Verdant Magic
by Quatermass
Summary: (Evil Dumbledore!) Lily Evans didn't die that fateful night. Instead, she had her memories erased and was sent away by Dumbledore, so that she could not interfere with his plans for Harry. But now, thanks to Umbridge, Lily Evans has regained her memories, and is back for her son. But how will Harry react when he learns that his mother is not only alive and well, but is Poison Ivy?
1. Foreword

**FOREWORD**

I have to confess, if I had to pick my all-time favourite comic book superhero of all time, then more often than not, I'd pick Batman. Maybe it's because he is wholly human, and has merely pushed himself to the very limits of what a human being can do. Or maybe it's because of his iconic rogues gallery. Or maybe it has some of the best adaptations to movies, television and video games (and, sadly, the worst). Meshing the Batman franchise with Harry Potter isn't so far-fetched. Harry and Batman share a tragic backstory, their parents murdered when they were young.

In this story, Harry Potter will be the son of Poison Ivy. This is a route other authors have travelled, many having Ivy adopt Harry, or else have her be his biological mother, and Lily an adoptive mother or surrogate. But this is the first fic, AFAIK, to have Poison Ivy and Lily Potter the one and the same. Well, save for a rather dark and bleak one-shot called _Interview_ by whitetigerwolf ( **EDIT** : And, as of April 13, 2017, I have been told by siblingloveF2 of at least one other: _A Late Autumn Dream_ by Rose Midnight Moonlight Black). This story will be set ten years ahead of Harry Potter canon, with the events of this story taking place in 2005. There will be Dumbledore-bashing, that is, an evil Dumbledore. Probably no Weasley-bashing though.

BTW, this story is one of the graduates of _The Cauldron_ , alongside another Batman crossover (specifically with _Batman: Arkham Asylum_ ) called _Yin and Yang_ , and a _Hellsing_ crossover, _The Uncertainty Principle_.

Anyway, time for the disclaimers. Firstly, this is an M-rated work for various reasons. Sex, violence, dark themes, and the Joker's sense of humour. You have been warned.

Secondly, there will be a number of annotations, and I don't want to hear any bellyaching.

Thirdly, there _will_ be spoilers for the Harry Potter books, and for the Batman franchise. I will be playing a bit hard and fast with the Batman continuity though, so no complaints about continuity. In addition, Poison Ivy will be acting somewhat OOC, though given that she had regained memories as Lily Potter, it's justifiable.

Finally, this is a fan-written work. Batman, Harry Potter, and the characters and scenarios are property of their respective owners. Please, support the official release. Otherwise, Joker will put a smile on your face…whether you want it or not…


	2. Chapter 1: Reunions

**CHAPTER 1:**

 **REUNIONS**

Madam Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic of Britain, was an odious, nasty, cruel, and all-round immoral human being. In short, she was a bitch who looked like a poorly-transfigured toad turned into a woman, and stuffed into a cardigan dyed an eye-burning pink. But one thing she wasn't was stupid. Not wholly, anyway. To become the power behind the Minister of Magic, one had to be intelligent and savvy enough to navigate the brutal and Byzantine politics of Magical Britain.

Of course, of all her actions, this had to be a masterstroke. In her efforts to help discredit Dumbledore and his pawn, Harry Potter, she had considered many things. As the smear campaign against them mounted in _The Daily Prophet_ , Umbridge had considered sending Dementors after Harry. Now that would be good. Either Harry ended up a soulless husk…or he would be forced to use magic to repel them, and thus get in trouble with the Ministry for repeated use of magic in front of Muggles.

But Umbridge had now found something else. Something that would prove to be, if anything, a more devastating weapon. One that, at the very least, would wipe out a lot of support for Dumbledore in one fell swoop, and even turn Harry into, if not an ally of Umbridge and Fudge, then at least Dumbledore's enemy.

Which was why she had gone to Gotham City, and spent time amongst the frankly filthy Muggles there. Until she found the person she was looking for. It had been an arduous few hours, talking to that person and undoing the spells which had infested them. When that person had learned what had been done to them, and by whom, well, they were angry.

Umbridge also knew Harry Potter's home address, and had supplied it to that person. After all, if anyone deserved to know that address, it was that person. Even if they were a known criminal. But then again, what could you expect from a Muggleborn?

* * *

"But Red, this is so _boring_ ," whined a voice. The woman the voice belonged to was beautiful, with long blonde hair framing a pretty, 'girl next door' face. She was wearing jeans, and a T-shirt with the Mona Lisa, with a moustache and beard on it, and the caption LHOOQ below it, a rather highbrow joke for the woman(1). "Seriously, it's even worse than home. At least you've got graffiti livening the place up."

The other woman rolled her green eyes. Her face, framed by masses of red hair, was haughty and regal, her clothes a little more elegant than her companion, with a green blouse and black jacket and trousers, concealing a body many a woman would kill to have. A wide-brimmed hat completed the ensemble. When she spoke, her voice was a sultry purr, even when it wasn't actively trying to seduce. It also held a certain amount of weariness and anger. "Harleen, we are not staying here longer than necessary. Especially as that old wether(2) may have the house watched. We need to be in and out before they can react. And I'm not sure whether the Disillusionment Charm will work, especially if Moody's watching, though he would have come forward by now if he was."

"Can I still beat them up a little, Red? I mean, given what you told me, they probably deserve it."

"If we have time, and I see enough, yes." They walked through the rather bland, dreary street of Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, where the houses were almost like clones formed in a vat. As they approached Number 4, the woman called 'Red' flinched and stopped, before scowling. "That old wether has put up wards here to influence the inhabitants."

"Well, 'snot like it's gonna be a problem, Red, once we take the kid outta here," Harleen said with a shrug.

"True. Of course, the wards geared toward the Dursleys are designed to enhance natural hatred and aggression, while towards…" 'Red' stopped for a moment, overcome by emotion. Eventually, she said, "They're suppressing magical ability, ability in general, intelligence, acuity…as well as instilling loyalty. I'd be impressed if I weren't so angry. It's a very difficult and intricate bit of spellwork." She then approached the door, and rapped imperiously on it.

Eventually, the door was opened by a man who appeared to be a human walrus, obese, moustached, and ill-tempered. "Who are you?" he demanded belligerently.

"Vernon…time hasn't been kind to you at all, has it?" 'Red' purred. "It's been kinder to me, though I cannot say it is due to clean living."

Vernon blinked, before his eyes widened. "It can't be you. You died with that other freak!" But as he tried to slam the door shut, 'Red' held it open, even against the strength of Vernon Dursley. Then, after a while, Vernon's face went slack, his expression becoming blank.

'Red' and Harleen walked right in. The red-haired woman seemed to sniff the air, before she honed in on a cupboard underneath the stairs. She opened it, and then scowled. "What the hell are you doing here?!" screeched an unwelcome voice.

'Red' turned to stare at a rather long-necked, horse-faced woman, who stared at her in shock. "No…you're dead…"

'Red' rushed forward, and grabbed the woman by the throat. "You'll wish I had, dearest Petunia. I could smell his blood in that cupboard. And while that old goat's wards would have affected you, I didn't think that you would have done that unless you wanted to! I would have looked after Dudley if you had died."

"We…never wanted…the freak…" Petunia choked out.

'Red's eyes narrowed, and she shoved Petunia to the floor, gesturing. From out of nowhere, ropes conjured themselves around the woman's body. "Where is he? Tell me, and I will leave this house, with him."

"…Guest bedroom…"

"Thank you, Petunia. And goodbye. Harleen? Put the clown's toxin next to her. He's good for something, at least."

"Sure thing, Red." Harleen grinned, and placed a small cylinder with the distinctive emblem of a psychotic, grinning clown on it, in the centre of a spiral made of alternating arcs of sickly yellow and purple. "What time?" she asked, her fingers poised above a timer.

"Three minutes. Vernon, close the door and come here," 'Red' called out.

As Vernon approached, and 'Red' also incarcerated him in ropes, Petunia said, "For pity's sake, I have a child!"

"So have I, and look how you treated him," 'Red' scowled in contempt. "Goodbye, Petunia."

"For pity's sake, Lily!"

"Lily Evans died long ago," 'Red' said coldly to the woman she once considered a sister. "And what little pity I had for you died when I smelt that blood in the cupboard." And with that, she began walking up the stairs, Harleen in tow, ignoring the protests of the woman tied up behind her.

"Y'know, this magic thing is pretty useful, Red," Harleen said. "You should use it more often."

"I only regained it when that odious woman broke the remaining binds on my power," 'Red' said. "As much as I hate helping the Ministry's little smear campaign against my son, it is past time I came back into his life. And in any case, this will give that old goat a declaration of war." Reaching the door, she opened it, to find her son sitting, reading, only for him to look up.

For the woman known as 'Red', it was a startling moment. He looked so much like the man she had been tricked into becoming infatuated with. And yet, there were different qualities in his face, beyond the scar and the green eyes, so much like her own. Remembering she was on the clock, she said, "Pack your bags. We're leaving."

"Who are you? What are you…" He blinked as he seemed to recognise her. "No, it can't be, it's a trick!"

 _Dammit_ , 'Red' thought to herself, before sending a sleeping spell his way, hitting him before he could react. The snowy owl in a cage barked in fright. 'Red' began checking, getting a trunk, and nodding, before pulling out what she could manage from the cupboard. Putting the cage and trunk, along with what she had managed to pull out, she then plucked a piece of paper from her jacket, put it onto the things, and had Harleen put her hand onto it, while 'Red' put the boy's hand onto it. As laughter sounded from the gas bomb downstairs, 'Red' said "Demeter." The three people, one owl, and a lot of luggage vanished, while the two people currently in the house died laughing, literally, their faces becoming pale and with rictuses on them. Dudley Dursley, who was out taking boxing lessons, came back to find his parents dead, and the freak missing. And he didn't know where his cousin had gone…

* * *

"Y'know, I hate bein' out in civvies," Harley Quinn complained as she donned her habitual, figure-hugging red and black suit, reminiscent of a jester. They were now back at one of Ivy's hideouts, at an old, abandoned garden centre. "It's so much more fun bein' in costume. It's like playing dress-up every day. I guess that's one of the attractions for B-Man. I mean, why else would he dress up like a frickin' bat?"

The voice of her co-conspirator, frequent lover, and probably only actual reliable friend, came out of the wardrobe where she was dressing, wearily. "The Batman is disturbed, Harley. Madness is a debatable thing, especially where Gotham is concerned, but one thing we can agree on is that disturbed individuals are on both sides of the law."

"I never heard you talkin' like that before, Ivy," Harley said. "Ever since that toad woman came 'round, you've been actin' a bit weird. I mean, beyond havin' a kid I never knew about, and bein' a witch like Zatanna, and having a British accent all of a sudden."

"At least the Batman is, for all his sneaking around, honest about his purposes. He'd fit right into Gryffindor…or Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Or Hufflepuff. To get where he is, he'd need a lot of hard work and tenacity."

"Yeah, I dunno half the stuff you're talkin' about, Red."

"Don't worry, Harley," her lover said, walking out of the wardrobe. Her skin, originally pale, was now the light green of a sapling. She was now dressed in what could be described as a one-piece swimsuit, seemingly made of leaves. "The upshot is, I have a new perspective on things. My mission hasn't changed, just something of the way I go about it. And the Batman will still seek to incarcerate me for my crimes past and future. And, of course, you're still mine."

"Aw, you're so sweet, Ivy," Harley said, smiling at Poison Ivy, one of the most infamous criminals to operate in Gotham. As was herself, but it was not unusual for the so-called supervillains, as the hysterical media dubbed them, to congregate. And ever since a fateful encounter five years ago, the two were lovers as well, albeit with a somewhat fractious relationship, partly because of Harley Quinn's obsession with the infamous psychopath known only as the Joker.

Still, at least the insane 'Clown Prince of Crime' had been good for something, Ivy reflected. Harley happened to have a gas bomb with his infamous Joker venom, a substance that provoked a fatal gelastic seizure, or, in layman's terms, they laughed themselves to death, the gaseous toxin pulling their faces into a grotesque smile like the Joker. Harley and Ivy were immune, Harley because of repeated exposure to non-fatal amounts of the toxin (as well as Ivy giving her a means of resisting poisons), and Ivy was immune to poisons in general. But to kill the Dursleys in such a way…well, it was immensely satisfying, and it might divert a little attention: Ivy's animosity towards the Joker was well-known.

Poison Ivy sighed quietly to herself. "Come on, Harley. I think I'll need you there with me. This is probably the hardest thing I've done since Woodrue experimented on me. That fool thought he was modifying me, when in truth, he was setting part of me free. Just not all of me…"

* * *

There he was…her son, lying there in the bed of her makeshift infirmary. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived (and if someone other than Dumbledore had thought up that little sobriquet, she was going to feed them to one of her plants). The one she had been forced to have with that bullying son of a bitch James Potter, thanks to Amortentia, and a bunch of other potions and spells. The one she was set up to be a brood mare for by Dumbledore. But while she could see James Potter's features, she also couldn't see him as anything other than her son, all grown up. A son whom she had been forced to forget. She wasn't going to hold the sins of the father against him, and despite the lies _The Daily Prophet_ printed, she was almost certain he was nothing like his father in character.

Gently, Poison Ivy waved a hand, and murmured, "Finite." Her son's eyes flickered open. When he saw her, and Harley, he blinked.

"Okay…I'm going crazy."

"Kid, it helps in this city," Harley said, probably not helping the matter, though her tone was gentle.

"Who are you?" the teenager demanded. "You can't be my mother, she's dead, and…hang on, aren't you Poison Ivy? And Harley Quinn?"

"That we are," Harley said.

"I don't know how I can't have seen it. I have that photo album from Hagrid," the teenager was muttering.

"That's because there's a certain man who has a lot to answer for," Poison Ivy said. "Magic was involved in blinding my eyes to the truth…and everyone else's. In Gotham, I am known as Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy. But…I was born Lily Evans. Harry, I know this is hard to believe, but _I am your mother_."

 **CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, here you have it. Poison Ivy is really Lily Evans. Harry's just been chucked in the deep end, and the Dursleys (well, two of them at least) have suffered a justifiable demise. Seriously, Joker gas is too good for them.**

 **1.** ** _LHOOQ_** **is a famous parody of the Mona Lisa by Marcel Duchamp, which has the Mona Lisa with a moustache and a beard. Spoken out loud in French, the initials LHOOQ sound like the French words '** ** _Elle a chaud a cul_** **', literally meaning '** ** _She is hot in the arse_** **', but less figuratively meaning '** ** _She's randy_** **'. I reckon this sort of thing would be right up Harley Quinn's alley, given the Joker's propensity for vandalising works of art and bad jokes.**

 **2\. As mentioned in previous fanfics, 'wether' is a term for a castrated goat. I found it while writing** ** _Fall to Zenith_** **, and found it an excellent insult for a bashable Dumbledore, or else being used by his enemies in stories of mine where he isn't being bashed.**


	3. Chapter 2: Mother and Son

**CHAPTER 2:**

 **MOTHER AND SON**

Harry Potter had thought he had experienced everything in his short but, in the past four years or so, eventful life. He had had no less than three near-fatal encounters with a psychotic dark wizard who didn't have the decency to die, he had duelled, flown in a car, on broomstick, travelled through fireplaces, faced off a werewolf, got roped into a tournament meant for people older than he was and, of course, could do magic. And now, with Cedric dead and his friends being oddly reticent about contacting him while Voldemort was running around, he thought his year was probably going to get worse.

This situation, though…he wasn't sure what to make of it. One of the most infamous supercriminals of Gotham City was claiming to be his mother. A mother, he had been told, had sacrificed her life to save his own from Voldemort. And yet, he couldn't deny it. In fact, he was wondering how he could have been so blind. The only difference between the photos of Lily Potter and the face of Poison Ivy standing right in front of him was the green skin colour. That, and the fact that Ivy was currently wearing little more than what looked like a leotard made of leaves.

Oh, and standing next to her was Harley Quinn, the infamous paramour of the even more infamous Joker. Complete with a figure-hugging red and black jester suit. And who was currently peering at Harry in what seemed like concern, before she said, "Red, I think you broke him."

"It's a lot to take in, Harley," Ivy said quietly. "I've practically walked up to him and said, 'Hi, I'm your mother, and I'm an infamous supervillain!' I think anyone would be taken aback by that. Especially as he's no doubt wondering why I never came back for him all these years."

After a moment, Harry said, "A Memory Charm?"

"Not exactly. But thanks for even considering that. The truth was…it was basically a high-powered version of a Memory Charm, allowing one to rewrite one's memories from the ground up. Even give a new identity. It's almost like the Fidelius, used for extreme cases of witness protection. It's almost never used, though, with the wizards believing a Fidelius or other magic will suffice. And I had it used against me without my consent. Lily Evans became Pamela Isley, a botanist working in Seattle with Alec Holland under Jason Woodrue. Woodrue's experiments on me didn't undo that spell, but they undid bindings on powers I already had." Poison Ivy looked into Harry's eyes both ruefully and proudly. "Powers you yourself have. Harry…I know you have many questions, but…I want to have your powers awakened first, so that you're ready to have the answers."

Harry had a lot of questions, but one stood out in his mind, a question he wanted answered for years. As Ivy turned to pluck a hypodermic from a kidney dish, he said, "Just one thing. Dumbledore's been evasive about why Voldemort has been after me. I thought you'd know. Can you tell me?"

Ivy considered this, before nodding. "I can tell you that," she said as she filled the syringe from a bottle filled with green liquid. "There was…a prophecy, uttered by a woman by the name of Trelawney. Voldemort heard part of it through one of his spies. In summary, it stated that the one with the power to defeat Voldemort would be born in the dying hours of July. Voldemort would mark that person as his equal, and neither would be able to live while the other survived. There was one other child who fit the prophecy, a boy by the name of Neville Longbottom."

"Neville?!"

"So you know him. Anyway, Voldemort began targeting us, so that's when we went into hiding. Now, I know you're going to ask me what's in this syringe. It's a refined form of the same substances Woodrue injected into me, plus a sedative. You won't go through anywhere as much pain or suffering as I did, Harry. I promise you that. And I refuse to let you die. It'll just break the bonds placed on you."

Harry got the feeling that, whether he wanted to or not, she was going to inject him anyway. And she at least had told him about this prophecy. Trelawney uttering a true prophecy? Dumbledore had claimed that she had uttered two so far, including that one about Pettigrew. Resignedly, he said, "Okay. It can't be any worse than Basilisk venom."

After a moment, Ivy said, quietly, "You and I are going to have a lot of catching up to do, Harry." And with that, she actually kissed the crook of his elbow, before putting the syringe in. He realised she had done that deliberately, because his elbow was now numb, and he couldn't feel the injection. He could feel the sedative, and whatever was in the concoction she had used, beginning to creep through his veins, ice and fire mingling in his blood, until darkness claimed him, a darkness filled with pain and warmth…

* * *

"A Basilisk," Ivy hissed as her son fell unconscious. "How the hell did my son end up fighting a Basilisk?!"

"Is that a bad thing, Ivy?" Harley asked.

"A Basilisk is a massive snake with venom even more lethal than anything I secrete from my lips. I'm surprised it didn't get rid of his bindings. Or maybe it did, and the old wether put them back. The only cure for Basilisk venom poisoning are Phoenix tears. I know Dumbledore has a Phoenix as a familiar…or a slave. Of course, getting bitten is one thing. If you look into a Basilisk's eyes, you die, unless you're lucky to see it either in a reflection or through some other means like a lens. Then you only get petrified."

"Wow. Y'know, imagine Killer Croc having somethin' like that."

"Thank you, Harley. I was getting tired of being able to sleep soundly at night." Ivy sighed. "I'm going to have to pay Zatanna a visit, see if she has anything to tell me about what's been happening in Magical Britain for the last little while, particularly from when Harry first attended Hogwarts."

"You sure, Red? I mean, she's probably gonna try to take you in," Harley said.

"Then I'll ask her for the location of the nearest magical enclave," Ivy said. "Gotham probably has an equivalent to Diagon. They probably deal more openly here than in Magical Britain. I thought the Yanks were even more closed-up than we were, but I guess in Gotham, it'll be more lax. I mean, you've got a man running around dressed as a bat, another man dressed as a clown, you've got a witch operating overtly in the Justice League, and so many strange people in and around Gotham. And that's without going into Metropolis or some of those other cities. Actually, scratch Zatanna. There's two people who would know where the local enclave is that we can trust more than her."

"Who?"

"Nygma may know. So too may Cobblepot. They've got connections and know where to find these things. I'll call Nygma up first. He owes me for not feeding him to Seymour after that insult he made." Ivy then walked out of the infirmary, and over to a phone. She dialled a special number, and waited.

After a while, the familiar smug, haughty tones of Edward Nashton, aka Edward 'Riddler' Nygma, came down the line. " _Hi, you've reached the voicemail of the Riddler. Please, don't leave a message after the tone unless it's actually interesting. Kthanxbye_."

Ivy growled quietly, before saying, "Listen to me, Nygma. This is Ivy, and if you're listening, you had better answer my call very soon, or Merlin help me, I will use my plants to make you the unwilling star of a botanical-themed tentacle hentai."

Almost immediately, the Riddler picked up the phone. Clearly, he had been screening his calls. " _Well, you've gotten my attention, Pamela, and not just because of the threat. Because while I know that's your voice, I also noticed you are speaking with a British accent. It sounds a little Northern, actually. And you just said 'Merlin help me'. Now, while the magical world does not interest me that much, I have a niece who is a British witch, and I know they all but revere Merlin as a deity in Britain's magical society._ "

Ivy blinked. "You have a niece who is a witch?"

" _Yes, but you didn't call up to talk about her, Pamela. You called me up for some reason. Well? What does Poison Ivy want with the Riddler?_ "

"Information. If you know about the magical world, that makes it easier. Where's the nearest magical enclave?"

" _Ah, straight to the point. Well, normally I charge a hefty fee for my services, or else deliver them as a riddle…but I guess I can cut you a break. To mend bridges after our last encounter. Kovurt Alley isn't the best of locations, but you'd be right at home there. Most of us would, by all accounts. I hear Scarecrow sometimes goes there to get ingredients to put into his fear poisons. I went there once, to satisfy my curiosity, and to buy some books. The entrance is in Crime Alley, right near where the Waynes got shot. You tap the memorial plaque with the 'shave and a haircut' riff, so I am told. Just don't be there when Bruce Wayne pays his respects. He gets a bit tetchy over people trampling over where his parents got shot._ "

Ivy scoffed. Since her memories and faculties as Lily Evans had returned, she had a few ideas of her own about Bruce Wayne. "Thank you, Nygma. Consider the debt you incurred with your insult repaid."

" _Very well, but a word of advice, Pamela. They're not that fond of what they call 'No-Majs', that is, people without magic like you or me. Or maybe it's just me, given you swearing by Merlin's name._ "

"No-Maj is the Yank term for what we call Muggles back in Britain. It's short for 'No Magic'," Ivy said. "And I'll be fine. Goodbye, Nygma." She hung up.

"You're not headin' there now, are you, Red?" Harley asked.

"No. I want to wait until Harry's out of danger first. It'll be at least a day before he's ready, if not more." She watched as beads of sweat broke out on his face. "Few metamorphoses are painless, at least initially. You and I both know that, Harley. But my son needs to get stronger if he needs to face his enemies. Enemies that make the Batman pale by comparison. At least he's honest about what he does."

"Uh, Red, he beats the crap outta people like you and me while wearin' a mask. That don't sound very honest to me."

"True, but his agenda isn't hidden. He's a vigilante who works outside the law. He's honest in that regard. All he hides is his face and public identity. But Voldemort wants supreme power, and he doesn't care about blood purity, save that it gives him an agenda. He treats mages and Muggles with contempt equally. And Dumbledore…he cloaks his own ambitions in righteousness. A chessmaster, a spider at the centre of a web, playing with the lives of others as he sees fit. He played with my life, and he played with Harry's. I will end them both, Dumbledore and Voldemort."

Suddenly, Harry convulsed, crying out even when unconscious. He began to spasm, and then, a cloud of black smoke emanated from his scar, screaming. Ivy thought that it seemed to form a face briefly, the all-too-familiar ophidian face of Voldemort. "Uhh, Red, did I just see living smoke come from your boy's scar?" Harley asked.

"You did," Ivy said. She looked at Harry, who was too still, no pulse or breathing. Immediately, she began performing resuscitation on him, breathing air into his lungs, and pumping his chest. EAR and CPR. Harley, after a moment, began performing the CPR while Ivy did the EAR. Both were qualified in first aid, with Harley having been taught it as part of her training at Arkham Asylum, back when she was an employee rather than an inmate.

It's an interesting fact that CPR is not 100% reliable, or even has the high success rate portrayed in fiction. Indeed, used without any medical equipment to supplement the resuscitation, the actual success rate is surprisingly low. It is, of course, better than doing nothing(1). But Harry showed that he was one of the lucky ones. After a few minutes, Harry's heart began beating on its own. He began to breathe again. His skin was beginning to take on a slight green pallor, but Ivy knew that that was because the serum was working. "Son of a bitch," Ivy muttered. "I think I know what that thing was."

"Whaddya mean, Ivy?"

"While I was fighting Voldemort all those years ago, I researched ways he could have become immortal, as he was infamous for desiring it. Even then, I had heard of the Lazarus Pits Ra's al Ghul uses. And there's the Elixir of Life, said to be the sole creation of Nicholas Flamel using the Philosopher's Stone. But I think Voldemort has used something else. That was a fragment of his soul, Harley. You ever heard of the tale of Koschei the Deathless?"

Harley frowned. After a moment, she said, "Whaddya know, I think I do. That's the Russian folktale about the guy who put his soul into a needle, and hid it away in a lotta things, right?"

"Right. I believe it was based on rumours about what Horcruxes are. A Horcrux is a soul fragment you split from your own soul. You undergo a vile ritual first, then commit murder, and then put part of your soul into an object that is then called a Horcrux. If your body dies, then as long as there's at least one Horcrux around, you'll survive as a spirit."

"And Voldemort made your kid into one? Yeesh."

"No, I don't think he did that on purpose. I reckon he would have used my son's death to create a Horcrux, but not Harry himself. I wouldn't put it past Voldemort to make multiple Horcruxes. He wanted to be more immortal than Solomon Grundy or Ra's al Ghul. Maybe he made so many, what was left of his soul was unstable enough so that, when he tried to kill Harry, the backlash shattered his soul and caused part of it to reside within my son."

"Yeah, I gotta ask you, Red, you've only told me so much about Voldemort and Dumbledore. I gotta lot of questions."

"So will my son," Ivy said. "I'll explain it when he wakes up." She smiled when she saw that the green of his skin was deepening. "Yes…he's very much his mother's child," she said softly, gently reaching over and caressing his cheek. "And soon, we are all going to make our mark on the world…"

 **CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, here you have it. Harry's now becoming like Ivy, the Horcrux has been removed, and the Riddler has a niece who is a witch. Explanations will come later.**

 **1\. This is actually true. CPR is actually less effective than it is portrayed as being on TV. That being said, using CPR is far better than doing nothing. It can buy time long enough for proper medical intervention to take place. It may not be a miracle cure, but it has saved lives. Learning it is thus not a waste of time.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Awful Truth

**CHAPTER 3:**

 **THE AWFUL TRUTH**

In the second time within a day, Harry woke up. Only…there was something different this time. Everything felt sharper, clearer. His eyesight was no longer bad. His hearing was sharper, if that was possible. New smells invaded his nostrils. Everything felt more…detailed, more…alive. And something gently touched the back of his mind. Something… _Green_. It was like he could hear faint whispers, like the stirring of leaves in the wind, in his mind. It felt…beautiful, for want of a better term.

 _Ah, so you're awake_ , came the voice of Ivy…no, his _mother_. Not through speech, but through his mind. It was speaking through that Green presence in his mind.

"Yeah," he said out loud.

 _Just speak into your mind, Harry. The Green will do the rest._

 _The Green?_

 _Think of it as what links all plant life together. Even I don't know much about it, and I was born to it. You and I, Harry, are Plant Elementals, a rare breed indeed, mages gifted by the Earth with an intimate connection to the essence of all plant life, the Green._

 _Okay…I've got a lot of questions, but…where are you?_

A slightly embarrassed tone crept into his mother's voice. _Well, Harry…you do know that Harley and I are lovers? You woke up shortly after we, well…_

 _Ah._

 _Yes. We'll get cleaned up, dressed, and come back to you. You don't mind?_

 _At the moment, I'm more worried about my mother being an infamous criminal than her sexual preferences. I don't really care about what team you bat for_ , Harry sent back.

 _Fair enough. For your information, I prefer women. I don't mind some men…if they're good at what I want them for. Sadly, your father wasn't one of them. I'm sorry, Harry, but you're going to be hearing things that you may not want to hear about your father, and about Dumbledore. You haven't known me for long enough to trust me, and my reputation as Poison Ivy won't help. But promise me that you will listen, at the very least_.

After a moment, Harry said, _I'll listen_. He couldn't help but feel a pang of dread at whatever his mother was going to say. But at least she had told him about the prophecy.

 _Actually, I have a better idea. You know what a Pensieve is?_

Harry nodded. _I saw Dumbledore's last year._

 _Good. This used to be a garden centre, and I can improvise a Pensieve from a birdbath. All I have to do is carve a few runes onto it_ …

* * *

His mother was dressed pretty much as she was before, while Harley had just a shirt and jeans, pretty much as she was when Harry first met her. Harry had stared at his arms, which were now the same shade of green as his mother's. And when he got out of bed, still clad in the clothes he wore at the Dursleys', and looked in a nearby mirror, he realised his physique had changed, becoming almost like a slender athlete.

They led him out the back of the garden centre that was now his mother's hideout. Plants grew all over the place, many of them beautiful. As his mother selected a rather large birdbath, washed it out, and then began carving runes into the stone with care, Harry asked, "What are we, mother?"

Ivy (it was hard not to think of her as that) didn't look up from her work, but said, "Plant Elementals. That's a somewhat misleading term, really, as 'plant' is not an element. It's just a term coined by the ignorant, a label. It means that we have an affinity with plants. We are hybrids. Our cells have chloroplasts as well as mitochondria. Our magic is attuned with the Green. We are the chosen of the Green. I was chosen while I was in the womb, and you share enough of my genes to be a chosen of the Green as well. My powers didn't come to the fore until shortly before I went to Hogwarts. My sister thought I was a freak. In truth, she was jealous that I was good at growing plants. It was a good friend of mine who realised what I was. He already knew I was a witch, but he was the one who identified that I was a Plant Elemental."

"Do I know him?" Harry asked.

"In all likelihood, you probably do. Severus Snape."

Harry gaped. "Snape was your friend?! But he hates me!"

"Because you look like James Potter. It's a long story, Harry. The truth is, we were friends for a long time, until an incident drove us apart," Ivy said, frowning. "When I helped him when he was being bullied by James…he called me a name, a name which broke the friendship."

Harry realised what she meant with a sickening jolt. "He called you a Mudblood, didn't he?"

"Yes," Ivy said, nodding solemnly. "I was already concerned about the friends he was making, friends who seemed intent on allying with Voldemort. And I later learned through a reliable source that he had all but joined the Death Eaters by that point. When he came to apologise to me, and I confronted him about him intending to join the Death Eaters, he didn't deny it. I cut off all ties with him." She then looked at Harley pointedly. "And you wonder why I tell you to drop your oh-so-precious Mister J."

"Mister J's called me many things, but there's a line even he won't cross, Red," Harley said.

"The Joker does nothing but cross lines, Harley," Ivy said with a weary sigh.

"…Well, he never calls me fat," Harley said, rather lamely.

After a moment, Ivy went back to her work. "The Joker has standards, well, **a** standard. I think Hell's frozen over."

As Harley spluttered indignantly at her lover's snark, Ivy finished carving the final rune onto the birdbath. Then, she gently touched her index finger to her temple. Harry watched as the now-familiar silvery white substance clung to her finger, which she put into the birdbath. As she repeated the process, she said, "Pensieves are usually specially made, in order to retain the memories. Otherwise, they leak out. Using runes helps create a Pensieve that can last for a few months, and we only need it for tonight. Harley, you can join us. It'll help answer some of your questions too."

"Okay, Red."

Ivy gestured Harry over, with the birdbath now filled with her memories and thoughts. She also gestured Harley over. "Harley, you have to immerse your head in this. You won't drown. You'll be seeing my memories."

Harley nodded, before the three of them put their head into the improvised Pensieve…

* * *

Harry saw the edited highlights of his mother's life as Lily Evans. The friendship with Snape, a dour but still nice boy at the time. The antagonism with James Potter and Sirius Black, and a slight friendship with Remus Lupin that grew into something better, almost on a part with her friendship with Sirius.

And then, the incident she had mentioned. The sundering of a friendship.

And then, a strange change came over Lily. A growing attraction to James Potter, as if through a fog. Then, graduation from Hogwarts, marriage, sex, birth…and then, the truth. Lupin administering an antidote. Lily bided her time until the Fidelius was used. And then, she struck.

They now came to a memory where James Potter was tied up with vines, glaring at Lily angrily. " _You stupid little Mudblood bitch! Do you think you can get away with this?_ "

" _I could ask the same thing of you, James Potter_ ," Lily spat angrily in the memory. " _You used Amortentia on me. Lupin gave me the antidote. All these years…you effectively raped me!_ "

" _I am the last of the Potters! I need to do whatever it takes to preserve the bloodline! Dumbledore agrees with me! And frankly, who cares about the opinion of a Muggleborn?! You are MINE, Lily! Not Snivellous, not the wolf's, and not anyone else's! And so is Harry._ "

" _No. Harry is_ _ **mine**_ _, James Potter_ ," Lily said quietly. " _You may have violated me to produce him, perverted my will so that you could sow your seed within my womb…but he will not suffer for the sins of the father. That is your job._ "

Then, Potter's face began to go slack. He struggled weakly. " _What…what're you doing…you Dark…bitch?_ "

" _I'm a Plant Elemental, James. I kept that secret from you. It means that I can, if I wish, use my pheromones to make you do what I want. I found a nice little ritual that will protect Harry if someone sacrifices their life for him. It will even protect him against the Killing Curse. It's considered dark, but frankly, given what you have done to me, you bullying rapist bastard, I think you should do your duty to your son. When the time comes…you will die for him. You will have no choice. I will live on, to protect my son._ "

Then, the aftermath of the attack on Godric's Hollow. Dumbledore was standing over Lily in another room of the house, while they heard Sirius and Hagrid argue faintly outside. " _You bastard_ …" Lily hissed. She was tied up, her powers suppressed.

" _My girl, you shouldn't use such language with your betters. Especially considering you forced James to die saving Harry's life._ "

" _It's more than he deserves. And you're next, Dumbledore. You made me into his brood mare._ "

" _A crude but apt analogy_ ," Dumbledore said, as the roar of Sirius' motorbike died away. " _He wanted a good wife, and I provided. Unfortunately, I didn't realise it was with a Dark creature like yourself until it was too late, but even that has its uses. Sadly, I cannot kill you outright at the moment for what you did. The Green looks after its own, and if I killed you or had you killed, it would come after me before my plans are ready. But there are ways around that. Harry will become the messianic figure Magical Britain needs, and I will stage-manage it. He will come into his powers only when I deem him ready. Perhaps he never will. Voldemort will return…and Harry will be the perfect weapon against him._ "

" _I won't let you_ …" Lily groaned.

" _You do not have a choice, my girl. I learned about an interesting spell in my researches. I think now is the best time to use it._ " He then pointed his wand at her.

Then, the view switched to that of a rather ugly-looking woman, toad-like, wearing an eye-searing pink cardigan. " _You know, I thought it most odd that you looked so much like Lily Potter. I did some research into your life, even asked Croaker, given that you worked for him for a time. I found it odd that all the dates seemed to match. It seems like my hunch paid off. You now have your memories and magic back._ "

" _Why did you do this?_ " Ivy asked. " _And don't lie to me by saying it was out of altruism, Umbridge. I know my son wouldn't lie about Voldemort, no matter what you say. Not unless Dumbledore's brainwashed him more than I thought._ "

" _I don't care whether You Know Who is alive. My duty is to the Minister, and he wants Dumbledore out, something I'm sure we can agree on. After you retrieve your son, I will be publishing that fact in_ The Daily Prophet. _Your son's reputation is already on the wane, as is that of Dumbledore. This just means I get to topple Dumbledore, and your son gets a fresh start with you_."

" _What about his friends?_ "

" _Harry Potter doesn't have friends_ ," Umbridge sneered, " _just hangers-on. They're parasites on his fame. He won't be missed by any of them, unless it's for reflected glory_ …"

* * *

"THAT LYING BITCH!" Harry yelled as he pulled himself out of the Pensieve. "Ron and Hermione aren't like that!"

Ivy and Harley emerged from the Pensieve to find that the plants around them were writhing in agitation. Ivy then went over to Harry, and embraced him, holding him close in a calming manner. "Harry...it's all right. She is a foul woman with a poisonous tongue. She doesn't know what she's talking about. If you have any friends who will stand by you, then they will. Though the truth may shake their faith in you. It's Dumbledore we need to look out for."

"What did he mean, the Green looks after its own?" Harry asked as he calmed down, and the plants with him. This all seemed so unbelievable, and yet…something was telling him it was true. The Green was, he realised.

"He meant that those that murder a Plant Elemental suffer from a curse, rather like that on those who slay a unicorn and drink its blood. It makes their life a hellish misery. That's why he used that spell I told you about, instead of killing me. Of course, it's far from perfect: Umbridge managed to figure out who I was. But he was counting on the spell to work. He created a fake body for Sirius and Hagrid to discover. Sirius was an arsehole, but even he was better than James. Now, Harry…I need to see your memories. I want to know what has happened to you in your life. I'll take copies of the memories out with my finger, you just think of them."

Harry nodded, and began thinking of his life as Ivy gently touched his temple, and took the copies of memories, and added them to the Pensieve. It took some time, but soon, the process was complete, and Ivy and Harley then viewed them. Some minutes later, the two emerged, both looking livid. "Y'know, Red, Mister J's special recipe was too good for the Dursleys," Harley said.

"Sorry, what?" Harry asked.

"When we took you away from the Dursleys, I left a gas bomb that emitted the Joker Toxin," Ivy explained. "I smelled your old blood in the cupboard under the stairs as well. And you've gone through so much, Harry."

"You killed them?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure whether he should be horrified or elated at their deaths.

"I've killed before. Your father was the first. The Dursleys were the latest. I won't apologise for what I am. We are Plant Elementals, the embodiment of nature, and nature is both cruel and nurturing by turns. My actions as Poison Ivy here in Gotham were those of a Plant Elemental twisted out of shape by Woodrue's experiments. I can understand if you don't want anything to do with me. All I wanted to do was release your power, and explain everything. But…I want you to stay. I want to be a mother again."

Before Harry could think about that, even consider any sort of response, there was a rapping noise on the door. The three of them turned to find a slender, athletic woman, dressed in a figure-hugging black suit, and wearing a hood that made her look like a cat. She had a pair of goggles on her forehead, revealing green eyes. Her face was pretty, in an elfin kind of way. "Sorry, am I interrupting a moment?"

"You are, but I should really introduce you. This is my son, Harry Potter. Harry, this is Selina Kyle, in all likelihood the best thief inside Gotham City, though you may know her better as Catwoman…"

 **CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, Ivy's done some explaining, and Catwoman's on the scene. Harry's, obviously, had a lot to deal with, so part of the reason he isn't objecting angrily and violently is that he's still in shock. That may change soon. And Ivy has changed once she's gotten her memories back. She'll become a little more heroic. Not by much: she and Batman will still be on opposite sides, but she'll be somewhere between Azrael and Mr Freeze in terms of morality.**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	5. Chapter 4: Retail Therapy

**CHAPTER 4:**

 **RETAIL THERAPY**

"So, you had a kid, Pamela, and I didn't know about it?" Selina Kyle, better known by her _nom de guerre_ of the Catwoman, asked. They were in what had once been a small café in the garden centre, having a small fruit salad. Harry was currently studying his magic texts that Ivy had packed for him in the infirmary. "And what's with the English accent?"

"It's a long story, Selina. A very long story. Let's just say that Woodrue wasn't the first man to fuck around with me," Ivy said as she contemplated her bowl. "As it is, I had a gift all along, suppressed by the meddling of an old man who played games with my life, writing out a plan for it without consulting me. My birth name wasn't Pamela Isley. It was Lily Evans. I was born in Cokeworth, England. I doubt you'll have heard of it. There's plenty of towns like it in the North. I later learned I was a witch. Like Zatanna, or Doctor Fate, or Raven, or the Enchantress. Speaking of which, Selina, have you ever heard of a place called Kovurt Alley?"

Selina frowned. "Rumours, really. A couple of the weirder things I stole, magical stuff, I gave to fences in the know about that thing, and I heard them remark a couple of times about how they had to go and visit Kovurt Alley. Haven't heard Batman mention anything about them, though, and you know he tends to know a lot of what goes on in Gotham."

"It's either him or his main information broker, Oracle," Ivy said. "Once I am sure Harry is recovered, we'll head there in mufti. The entrance, according to Nygma, is in Crime Alley. You just have to tap the memorial plate to the Waynes in a 'shave and a haircut' beat. I need a new wand, and supplies that I can't get even from my gardens."

Selina nodded. Ivy…felt like she could trust Selina a bit more now, in a way. Now that her time as Lily Evans had been returned to her, and so too had some of her capabilities, she felt like something had returned to her, something bringing her to a slightly more even keel. Oh, she didn't regret many of those deaths she had caused. Most of them were amoral profiteers who didn't give a shit about human life, let alone plant life.

Selina, Ivy, and Harley all formed the trio of criminals sometimes dubbed the 'Gotham City Sirens' by the city's lurid press. It wasn't a gang as much as a mutual friendship, especially when Harley was away from the Joker. Harley and Ivy were, of course, lovers, and Selina had worked with them before, though she had a rather too-close relationship with the Batman. Of course, suspecting who the Batman was, Ivy perversely trusted Selina more than she had.

"You're a mage…" Selina muttered. "And you have a son. You didn't tell Nygma?"

"About my son, no, though that was an accident. A happy accident. But he knows I'm a mage. Not that that'll make much difference. I wonder if Gotham has much presence from the American Aurors." On Selina's look, she said, "Magical police. You and Harley are what they call 'No-Majs' in America, or Muggles back home. In other words, you have no magic, hence 'No-Maj'."

"Okay. So why didn't you track him down before?"

"You know Zatanna can meddle with your memory, right? Like that whole business with Doctor Light? She's at least judicious about it, whereas the wizards and witches hand out Memory Charms like sweets at Halloween. I got hit with a different spell that turned Lily Evans into Pamela Isley. Some hag from Britain realised who I really was, and undid the effects of the spell, because she wanted to discredit Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore, in case you're wondering, looks like a pantomime Merlin, acts like a half-senile Gandalf, and is basically Lex Luthor in temperament. Manipulative, canny and utterly convinced of his own superiority."

"Okay. One, that's a scary thought, a wizard who's like Lex Luthor. Two, I'm still getting used to you speaking like that. You know, with an English accent."

"Get used to it. Anyway, Dumbledore's only part of the problem. There's also Voldemort. He's a dark wizard. Think somewhere between Hitler and the worst of the Klu Klux Klan, made into an actual wizard."

"And he calls himself Voldemort?" Selina asked. "I mean, I'm used to weird names with criminals and vigilantes calling themselves all those names, but Voldemort?"

"It's a pretty feared name back home, Selina. He's about as vicious as the Joker, and about as hard to kill. And as much as I detest the Joker, he has no pretence about him. Voldemort, however, cloaks his megalomania in a doctrine of blood purity. He claims those with no magic to be little better than animals, and those with magic born to them, like me, to be thieves of magic from so-called Purebloods. Blood purity doctrine's been around for years, but Voldemort really took it to the next level. And as for his name, well, I saw one of my son's memories which explains it. Apparently his birth name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, and you can make that into an anagram: _I am Lord Voldemort_. Let's face it, you can't call yourself the Dark Lord Riddle, though I'm sure Nygma would give it a damn good shot."

* * *

The Riddler sneezed twice, and then scowled at his mucus-covered screen. Then, he shrieked in dismay at what happened during his distraction. "NO! DARK LORD RIDDLE! MY LEVEL 98 DARK KNIGHT! AND I WAS SO CLOSE TO BEATING THIS RAID BOSS!"

* * *

An hour or so later, Harry was directed by Ivy to dress, as well as showing him how to change his skin colour back to normal. Well, normal for humans, anyway. For Plant Elementals, having green skin was the norm. He'd also had spells cast on him and the others, Notice Me Not charms, to disguise them somewhat.

He still wasn't sure what to make of this situation. Here he was, in Gotham City, widely acknowledged to be one of the most violent, crime-ridden cities in the US, if not the world, in the company of three beautiful women, all of whom were seasoned criminals.

There was his mother, Lily Evans, now Pamela Isley, or rather, Poison Ivy, eco-terrorist, Plant Elemental, and all-around seductress. She also looked younger than she should have by at least half a decade: she should be 35 by now, but looked to be in her late twenties. Then, there was Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harley Quinn, a former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who got infatuated with the Joker, and became his sidekick, though at the moment, the disturbingly bubbly young woman seemed content to be Poison Ivy's partner in crime and lover. Harry reckoned that had to be better: for all of his mother's faults and crimes, she at least had a twisted sense of morality. Ivy had to be a better influence than the Joker. And Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. No superpowers, no insanity, just an extremely skilled cat burglar. And an extremely sexy one. Then again, a lot of the female supervillains (and superheroes) tended to look like models. He had to wonder about that. Catwoman and Harley must physically train a lot, while his mother…maybe she didn't eat that much, just photosynthesising or something. He had no idea.

They were walking through a dingy alley, riddled with rubbish. They then came to a plaque, the bronze somewhat tarnished, and with a scratch defiling it reading 'BURN IN HELL' over the date. It read, 'ON THE NIGHT OF' and then, it was obscured by the scratch, 'THOMAS AND MARTHA WAYNE WERE BRUTALLY MURDERED IN A MUGGING GONE WRONG. THEY ARE SURVIVED BY THEIR SON BRUCE, AND A LEGACY OF PHILANTHROPY'.

For a moment, he was struck by this. Was there a similar memorial for his parents? For a father he never knew, who may have actually forced his mother to be his wife? For a mother who was alive, and one of the most infamous criminals in the world? And for him, orphaned?

Ivy rapped on the plaque in the 'shave and a haircut' beat. Then, the brick wall faded into transparency, and the quartet stepped through into Kovurt Alley.

Harry was reminded of Knockturn Alley, all the grim and grungy shops and streets, with shady characters going about their business. Not quite as bad as Knockturn, though. Their first port of call was a wandshop, where Ivy got a new wand: hawthorn and Phoenix feather. Very different to the willow wand she had gotten from Ollivander's twenty four years ago. It felt more fitting than that one, Ivy had declared. Hawthorn was the wood of those caught between the light and the dark, equally capable of healing and cursing, according to the wandmaker.

They then went around to various shops, mostly the Potions stores and the bookstores. They spent two hours in Kovurt Alley, though, wandmaker's aside, it felt like a whirlwind trip. They were soon back at the garden centre, with a mokeskin pouch containing all of Ivy's purchases, as well as the ones she had deigned to do for Selina and Harley. And there was an imported copy of _The Daily Prophet_ , too. Ivy had bought it once she saw the lurid headline.

* * *

As they got back, Ivy began casting spells, including various wards. "I need to have warning of any unwanted visitors, whether it's the Batman, the Joker, the GCPD, or anyone from Magical Britain," she remarked. "It feels good to have a wand again. I can even infuse the wood with life again. It'll help enhance my magic. I should also put my hideouts under a Fidelius, with me as Secret Keeper."

Harry, meanwhile, had plucked the imported copy of _The Daily Prophet_ from the bag, and was glaring at the headline. "What the hell is this?!" he demanded.

"Umbridge's latest attack, no doubt…" Ivy remarked as she read over his shoulder.

 **SON OF A SUPERCRIMINAL?: THE DARK TRUTH ABOUT HARRY AND LILY POTTER**

 _While questions about the veracity of Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter continue to be asked, a new revelation has come to light. One that is truly shocking. Not only is Lily Potter alive and well, but she is none other than the infamous supercriminal of Gotham City, Pamela Isley, better known as Poison Ivy._

 _For those readers unaware of her, Poison Ivy is a notorious criminal with a vile ability to manipulate the minds of those around her through a substance emitted from her very body, as well as a poisonous kiss that puts a Basilisk's bite to shame. In addition, she has a strong affinity with plant life. Despite these abilities, she was thought until recently to be a Muggle researcher who had these abilities given to her by the illicit experiments of one Doctor Jason Woodrue, better known by his sobriquet of the Floronic Man. Her most noteworthy achievement was being one of the many flamboyant criminals populating Gotham City, opposed mostly by the brutal Muggle vigilante known only as the Batman._

 _However, a brave Ministry of Magic employee noted similarities in appearance between Poison Ivy and Lily Potter. This employee also knew of a spell, the Tabula Rasa spell, a form of memory charm used to suppress a person's normal memories, and rewrite them from the ground up (albeit without changing too much of their personality), as well as giving a subtle charm to, under normal circumstances, prevent people from recognising the recipient of the spell. This employee braved the journey into the savage streets of Gotham City, and approached Ivy, before restoring her memories as Lily Potter._

 _Ivy is a noted thief, murderer, and terrorist, with dozens of deaths to her name. She is noted also for ensnaring the minds of many men through her foul abilities. We at_ The Daily Prophet _want to know, how much of that was Lily Potter's true nature coming to the fore? Was James Potter truly in love with her, or did she ensnare him with her foul abilities? Or was it something else?_

 _In a brief interview with the Ministry official, Ivy, with her memories as Lily Potter restored, claimed that it was Albus Dumbledore who used the spell on her, and sent her away from her child. Is it possible, then, that Dumbledore, in deliberately severing the bond between mother and child, caused the rise of the criminal known as Poison Ivy? And is there another rising criminal on the way, in the form of Harry Potter? Or is he merely a dupe, a puppet on the end of Dumbledore's strings?_

There were other articles in the rest of the issue, but Harry didn't want to read them. "Thanks for taking me away from there, Mum," he remarked acidly.

"Don't take that tone with me, Harry."

Harry glared at Ivy, the anger he had felt towards his friends at keeping him in the dark bubbling up. Not to mention the fact that he had learned that Dumbledore was responsible for robbing him of his mother. Always assuming that she didn't somehow fabricate her memories, the ones she put into the Pensieve. After all, she was a supercriminal, noted for manipulating people, using her feminine wiles. In fact, who was to say that she was even his mother? "Oh, and what tone would you like? How do I even know you're my mother? For all I know, this is one of your plots. Poison Ivy decides to make the Boy Who Lived one of her pawns!"

"How dare you!" Ivy snapped. "I could have made you an unwitting servant with my pheromones. I don't need the Imperius Curse, or the manipulations that Dumbledore would make!"

"That you _claim_ he'd make! For all I know, you fabricated those damn memories!" Harry yelled. "You've turned me into a freak, just like the Dursleys said I was, just like they said my mother was! And even if you are my mother…what about those people you killed? All those crimes you committed? You took me away from my friends, killed the Dursleys…and now, I've been outed as your son! You ruined my life!"

With that, he stormed away. He stormed towards the infirmary, angry tears streaming from his eyes. He wasn't sure Ivy wouldn't try to stop him if he left. And he didn't care that he could hear sobs coming from her as he stormed away.

That's what he told himself, anyway…

 **CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, Harry's had a blowup at Ivy. Understandably so. I mean, this is Harry at the time of** ** _The Order of the Phoenix_** **, known for his whiny, petulant attitude. Understandably so, but that book was the nadir of the series for me. Their relationship will still be a little strained for a while, but they'll make up in the next chapter. We'll also have the reactions in Magical Britain in the next chapter.**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	6. Chapter 5: Reactions and Reconciliations

**CHAPTER 5:**

 **REACTIONS AND RECONCILIATION**

In Magical Britain, people were reading their newspapers in utter astonishment. Arguments began in family households. Houses divided by whether Harry and Dumbledore were telling the truth, or deluded, were further fractured by this news.

No household was now so fractured than that of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore had already told them that the Dursleys had been murdered, save for Dudley, using a poisonous gas that seemed to be that used by the infamous Joker, and Harry had disappeared, apparently abducted. But this article put a whole new complexion on the matter. However, Dumbledore then decided that Poison Ivy had been the one to kidnap Harry, and was thus making plans to head to Gotham City to get him back.

Sirius had stormed out of the latest meeting, Remus and Tonks in tow. "Bloody idiots!" Sirius snarled. "Dumbledore's got them twisted around his finger, claiming they need to save Harry from Poison Ivy! God, how could I have not seen it?"

"I think we were all fooled. But assuming the _Prophet_ is right, and that's a big assumption, why did Dumbledore do that?" Remus asked.

"For the same reason why he didn't try to get me a trial. Oh, he could've been blinded by anger towards me, but now that this has come out, I think he knew, and kept me in Azkaban."

"So, are we going to Gotham?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah. I don't trust Dumbledore or Ivy. I need to make sure Harry's all right."

"I'll go with you."

The voice was that of Hermione. She had come down the stairs, her eyes bloodshot from crying. "Hermione? No, Gotham City's too dangerous," Remus said.

"True, but there's one thing I have that you guys don't," Hermione said. "I have an uncle in Gotham. My mother left home at an early age to become a dentist. My uncle…he's a bit infamous in Gotham, but if anyone knows where Harry and Ivy are, it'd be him."

"And who is he?"

"He's my uncle Eddie…though you guys might know him better as the Riddler…"

* * *

Selina knew this wasn't going to be easy. The kid reminded him too much of those kids Batman trained into assuming the mantle of Robin. She remembered Jason Todd, beaten half to death by the Joker, with a bomb finishing the job. Bratty little shit, but he didn't deserve that by a long shot. She had seen a lot like Harry, too. The signs were there, a kid who had grown up in an abusive home, with a lot of anger. She saw eyes like his every time she looked in the mirror.

While Ivy and herself weren't always on the best of terms, Selina knew that Ivy was changing, possibly even for the better. If anyone else had given her such a tirade, Selina was sure Ivy would have torn them apart. And Ivy certainly would not have cried so hard.

She knocked on the door of the infirmary. "Hey, Harry, it's me, Selina. I'm coming in."

"Bugger off."

"No thanks." Selina opened the door, and found him lying, face down, on the bed. Ah, sulky teenage angst. Gotta love it. She sat down next to the bed, and remarked, "Cats go everywhere they like, you know. What was it that Kipling said? The cat walked by himself, and all places were alike to him. Or her."

No reply from the kid. Eventually, Selina said, "Ivy told me about this 'Boy Who Lived' bullshit. Which it is: bullshit."

After a moment, Harry said, "You're the first person to actually call it that. Figures that you're a Muggle."

Selina laughed. "This Muggle, kid, is one of the best thieves in this country, if not the world. I may make it look easy, but there's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears involved. And I know a little of what you're going through. Not the being famous bit, I didn't become famous until I donned the costume. But dealing with family who hated me, and finding out a parent wasn't who I thought they were, but a criminal, yeah, I've been there."

He didn't say anything. Selina eventually said, "My mother was a distant woman. She preferred her cats to other people. She killed herself when I was young. My father hated me for resembling my mother, and he hated my mother for killing herself. He pretty much did the same thing, drinking himself into an early grave. I think he also hated me because he had some inkling that I wasn't his daughter. My sister went straight into an orphanage, and from there, into a convent, while me? I went onto the streets. I got caught, sent to another orphanage, and then into juvenile hall. Not the most auspicious of beginnings. When I was 13, I discovered the bastard in charge of the centre was embezzling funds. When I confronted him, he knocked me out, tied me up into a sack, and chucked me into the river, like an unwanted cat. I managed to escape, and took my revenge on him. I won't bore you with the later details of my life, though. You probably saw some of my exploits as Catwoman."

After a while, Harry asked, "Do you know who your real father is?"

"Was. He's dead. You might have heard of him: Carmine Falcone, one of the big mob bosses in Gotham before the supercriminals took over. I didn't have proof until I got access to his frozen body, and had a DNA test run. As it turned out, I was adopted by the Kyles. I was Falcone's second daughter, put up for adoption." Selina sighed. "I know you're going through a lot. All of us in this building have been there, done that, and bought the damn T-shirt. I've known Ivy for a long time. Yes, she's killed people. But most of them were Grade-A pricks. Not all of them, but even so…and then, there's the fact that she's changed since she got her memories back. It's not that big a difference, British accent aside. But take it from someone who's known her for a while, who's probably one of her few friends. Besides…you're not a freak. There're way worse people in this city alone than you, or Ivy for that matter."

Again, Harry subsided into sullen silence. Eventually, Selina said, "I'd make a crappy psychiatrist, wouldn't I?"

Harry chuckled, actually bothering to look at her. "You'd be better than whatever hacks they have at Arkham Asylum."

"Haven't you ever heard the old joke? How many shrinks does it take to change a lightbulb? One, but the lightbulb has to want to change. Okay, Arkham hasn't always had the best in psychologists and psychiatrists working there. I mean, I'm sure you know about what happened to Harley. Joker managed to sucker her in, though I heard someone theorise she was a hybristophiliac. In other words, she has a thing for criminals. And of course, there's Hugo Strange. But I think it's more to do with the fact that those in Arkham can't really change. The Joker, Two-Face, Killer Croc…the only change they do is for the worse. But…I think you can change Ivy, Harry, for the better. I think you've started to. Just regaining her memories, regaining you…I know this has to be a major shock, Harry. But…I think you can change her for the better. Just by being here."

"But what about my friends? What about Voldemort?"

"We'll find a way to deal with them. Ivy and Harley may not like me for it, but I know the Batman and his associates, and that includes Zatanna Zatara. She'd know about Voldemort. And I think the Justice League could be persuaded that he's a threat. The League eats little punks like Voldemort for breakfast."

Harry chuckled again, before sitting up in bed, looking at her. Selina then said, "You have your mother's eyes, you know."

"I've been told that before."

"Doesn't mean it isn't true," Selina said. And it was true. Like Ivy, his eyes were a beautiful emerald. "And I'm pretty sure that Ivy loves you. I mean, think about it. If that James Potter guy really did give her a love potion or whatever it was, and effectively raped her, she could have let Voldemort kill you. Or she could have left you with those animals she had the misfortune to call family. She didn't. You do know she helped out a bunch of orphans when an earthquake hit Gotham a few years back? I think it's because, somewhere deep inside her, she remembered she was a mother."

The boy was silent, looking pensive. Eventually, he said, "Give me a moment." He clambered from his bed, and then walked out of the infirmary. Selina hoped she had gotten through to him…

* * *

Harry wandered through the garden centre, until he came to the garden area proper. He needed to be closer to the plants. After speaking with Selina Kyle, he just…needed to get closer. The plants were trying to soothe him after his argument with Ivy, whispering to him through the Green. He wandered over to an old, concrete bench (meant to look like weathered marble, and failing miserably), and sat down. A tendril of a plant rubbed at his back soothingly. Then, a branch with berries gently lowered itself down in front of him.

As he hesitated, he heard Ivy's voice say, "They're not poisonous, you know." He whirled to find her standing in the entrance of the garden, dressed once more in that swimsuit made of leaves. "My children are offering you their bounty. They feel your distress, Harry. They know you are kin. They want to soothe your misery."

Harry didn't say anything. He didn't trust himself to. He barely reacted when Ivy walked over, and sat down next to him. He didn't even flinch away when she put an arm around his shoulders. It actually felt comforting, even though his mother was wearing little more than a one-piece swimsuit, made from leaves. "I'm sorry I upset you, Harry, I really am. The truth is painful, and I took you away from your friends. I knew Umbridge would expose us both. But…when I got my memories back, I only cared about getting you back from the Dursleys. Would you rather I not?"

"…I don't know. I mean…you're Poison Ivy, for crying out loud," Harry said. "I'm glad my mother's alive, I just…I just…" He began to weep quietly. "Did you have to kill the Dursleys?"

"They deserved death for what they did to you. I smelled your blood in that cupboard, Harry. And with it, a stale stench of fear and hopelessness. I saw your memories. They didn't even bother giving you a proper bedroom until the Hogwarts letters started coming. I have killed people for crimes many would consider less than the abuse of a human child. The Dursleys certainly didn't regret what they had done, even though they were influenced by the wards on their house. But the wards would have only enhanced what was already there. Their only regret was being caught. I'm tempted to do the same to Snape. He was the one to tell Voldemort about the prophecy, after all, according to Dumbledore."

Harry fought down another flash of anger, albeit directed at Snape. "I thought you said he was a liar."

"No, I said he was a manipulator, someone who knows how to use both truth and lies as weapons and tools. He did tell us that Snape changed sides, supposedly for my sake. I think he wanted Voldemort to kill James and you, and have me to himself. And as much as I despised James once I learned the truth, if Snape had caused your death, I would have made his own demise prolonged."

"…Do you hate me for being James Potter's son? I mean, you had me under Amortentia."

"…There was a time when I did hate you. And when I first saw you when you were grown up, it was a shock. I had hoped that there were more of my features in you. But you are not James Potter. All he contributed was spermatozoa. And I didn't want to hold your father's sins against you. James Potter deserved my ire. He drugged me with Amortentia. In Muggle terms, such a thing would effectively be a date rape drug, though it obviously went beyond dates. But you, Harry…you are my son. And frankly, after seeing those memories, I can honestly say that I am proud of you. Besides, you've done at least one thing the Batman hasn't ever done."

"What's that?"

"Fought a Basilisk and survived…"

* * *

Waking up in the early evening, Bruce Wayne suddenly sneezed. Alfred, who was currently bustling around nearby, said, "I believe that either I need to dust this room urgently, or someone is talking about you."

"Everyone in Gotham talks about me," Bruce growled. "Either as Bruce Wayne or as Batman. If that were the case, I'd sound like I have a flu all the time."

"True enough. And it'd prevent you from simply appearing next to people like Commissioner Gordon, or disappearing mid-conversation."

Bruce Wayne shuddered at the thought. One of the simple pleasures of his vigilante life, gone because he kept sneezing…

* * *

"Yeah, I guess there's that," Harry said with a chuckle.

"Like I said, I'm proud of you. Now, it's getting late, and I think some dinner would do us some good." But before Ivy could say anything else, Harley came running in, a phone in hand.

"Hey, Red? Eddie's on the phone. He said he wanted to talk to you about your kid. Some guys from England are over there, and he's a bit weirded out that he can't remember where you live, or trace this call. Apparently his computer glitches out when he tries."

After a moment, Ivy took the phone from Harley, and then asked, "Hello? Yes, Nygma. Yes, it is, and no, I'm not telling you where I live. You're an information broker, Riddler. Who are those with you?" After a moment, she said, "Okay. Tell them I'll meet them in Robinson Park. Oh? Your niece wants to say hello?" Then, after a moment, she said, "Ah, so you're Nygma's niece." She chuckled. "Flattery gets you nowhere, but it's nice to see that someone admired my paper on thigmonasty(1). Yes, he's here. I think he'll be glad to hear from a friendly voice." She handed the phone over to Harry.

"…Hello?" Harry asked.

" _Oh, Harry! You're all right! I was so worried about you! I'm sorry I didn't send any letters, Dumbledore told me to let you mourn in peace, but…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!_ "

The voice was one that Harry was tempted to be angry at. But having vented much of his anger and resentment at his mother, he felt more weary than anything. And at least she was apologising. "Breathe, Hermione," he rebuked gently. "Don't forget to breathe…"

 **CHAPTER 5 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **And here you have it. This'll probably be the last chapter for this initial posting. I hope you like it. Incidentally, when I posted the first two chapters in** ** _The Cauldron_** **, most of those who guessed who the Riddler's niece was got it right. Then again, it's pretty obvious. I had a notion for this story that Luna was Harley's niece too, but I eventually decided, having made them cousins in** ** _Yin and Yang_** **, not to reuse that. I'm still deciding on a pairing for this story. For the moment, it's up in the air whether I do Harmony (no such thing as too much Harmony, just as there's no such thing as enough dakka), or ship Harry with Luna and Hermione with Tim Drake. The problem at this part of the story is getting Harry and Luna to meet.**

 **Now, I made a point of saying these things in the foreword, but I'll reiterate it again. Firstly, if Ivy is acting OOC, it's because her memories as Lily Evans have come back. Her personality is changing somewhat. She's still very much a criminal, which will be a conflict between her and Harry for some time to come, but she'll be focusing more on Magical Britain, to make sure her son is safe, than just messing around in Gotham.**

 **Secondly, I'm basically making my own version of the Batman continuity, which is frankly a tangled Brobdingnagian mess (that makes the Whoniverse's continuity look neat by comparison) I want no truck with. Some storylines have taken place, others haven't. The events of** ** _Hush_** **haven't happened the same way they have in canon, for example, as Catwoman and Ivy do trust each other, to a degree, and Catwoman hasn't had her heart taken out by Hush (as happened in** ** _Heart of Hush_** **, or whatever that storyline is called). Although they're called the Gotham City Sirens, the Sirens don't have that mansion (though now that Lily/Ivy has a wand and the ability to use the Fidelius, that may change) or have gone through many of the storylines, and Riddler isn't a detective, more of an information broker.**

 **1\. This may sound like a made-up word, but thigmonasty is actually a term for plant movement in response to touch. Like, say, the closing of a venus fly trap.**


	7. Chapter 6: More Reunions

**CHAPTER 6:**

 **MORE REUNIONS**

Robinson Park during the day was a location for family outings, if one ignored the trash in some areas. True, there was the occasional homeless person, but few of the homeless, even in Gotham City, were criminals. They were usually just unfortunate people.

At night, though, many avoided it. Especially if Poison Ivy was known to be out of Arkham Asylum. Robinson Park was one of her frequent haunts. She had even set up shop there in the aftermath of the earthquake that had nearly levelled Gotham, and certainly isolated the city for a time from the outside world. Ivy had actually taken in a number of orphaned children, and despite most of the police believing her to have taken them hostage, she was actually caring for them. Even Batman managed to recognise that.

She knew every plant in Robinson Park, every leaf, stem, root and flower. Some Notice Me Not charms assured that her fellow Sirens, along with Harry, didn't attract any attention from the passers-by, even with disguises. She also knew where the others were waiting. Thankfully, Dumbledore didn't seem to be amongst them. It seemed to be Remus, some Metamorphagus girl (she could tell because her hair colour was shifting subtly), Sirius in his Animagus form, and a bushy-haired girl, presumably Hermione Granger. Nobody else was present, as far as she could tell. Even an Invisibility Cloak would not hide them from her plants, not completely. Not if they were standing on grass, anyway.

Thankfully, they were in a relatively isolated part of the park. Eventually, Ivy and her entourage arrived behind them, with the supercriminal erecting wards as she did so. It was Hermione who heard them first, whirling, her wand in hand, the others following suit. "Harry. You're…" She blinked as she realised something, even in the darkness. "Green?"

"It's a long story, Hermione," Harry said.

"Lily…" Remus breathed. "You're still alive. But…how?"

"Long story, and this isn't the place to do it," Ivy said. "I'm going to use Legilimency on all of you, to make sure you're not here on the old goat's orders. If you have any issue with it, then I'm going to Obliviate any objectors and send them back home. After I use Legilimency, that is. Am I clear? That includes you too, mutt."

The dog that was Sirius Black whined, and Harry protested, "Mum, do you have to?"

"I'm ensuring your safety and mine, Harry. Well?"

Hermione and Remus stepped forward almost instantly, Sirius doing the same. Eventually, the girl said, "Okay, but I'm an Auror, Miss Potter."

"Then I won't rifle through your head for DMLE operations. It is Dumbledore that worries me. I'll be quick."

After about half a minute, Ivy sighed, lowering her wand. "Okay, you're all on the level. Good. I've erected fairly strong privacy wards. You can change back for the time being, Sirius." As the Animagus changed back to normal, Ivy then said, "Though you'd better have a good excuse for leaving Harry to Hagrid."

"I didn't know you were alive! Hagrid was insistent, and I thought I'd better take care of Pettigrew, just in case he tried to attack Harry, not to mention before he could get away with what he did."

"You could have notified someone else about Pettigrew being the Secret Keeper, instead of going off half-cocked."

"And how did you survive?" Sirius demanded. "Dumbledore told us that you sacrificed yourself in a way to keep Harry safe from Voldemort!"

"I sacrificed James, Sirius. He dosed me with Amortentia, made me his wife and lover against his will! So I made him sacrifice his life to protect Harry!"

"You…you did that, Lily?" Remus asked, his eyes wide in horror.

"You shouldn't be so surprised, Remus. You were the one who discovered that James used Amortentia on me, and gave me the antidote. You knew how angry I would be. I'd sacrifice my life for my child, but James Potter needed to pay for making me infatuated with him."

"You killed…James?" Sirius demanded incredulously, betrayal tinging his tone.

"He was a bully, a rapist and an arrogant fool. He merely hid his Blood Purity views better than your family did, Sirius," Ivy said remorselessly. "He thought he was entitled to everything he wanted. Including the right to deflower me. Doesn't that bother you, Sirius? Amortentia is as bad as the Imperius when it is used to keep someone in a marriage! I'm sure your family used it more than a few times to make sure a reluctant bride only laid back and thought of England. You'd condone James using it on me?"

"He…he was my best friend!" Sirius retorted.

"You need some better friends," Ivy said coldly.

"This coming from the woman who's eating out the Joker's crazy girlfriend?!" Sirius snapped.

"Red, is it Hammer Time yet?" Harley asked, in a quiet tone that suggested she was as annoyed as Ivy was.

"Not yet. I'm hoping he can be housetrained," Ivy said. "Preferably without pheromones. He came here to check if Harry's all right, but it's obviously been a good enough job with you all keeping him in the dark over Fudge's little smear campaign. At least you four have just enough ability to think for yourself to come here without Dumbledore or Snape in tow. The Weasleys may be good, but they're blind to Dumbledore's faults. If you think you can rescue Harry from me, then you're mistaken. He doesn't need rescuing, any more than he needs to go back to Magical Britain. In any case, now that his relationship with me is public knowledge back home, how long do you think Fudge will allow him to stay at Hogwarts? As Poison Ivy, I am infamous, even in the wizarding world. They would treat him worse only if his father was Voldemort. Or the Joker."

"So? He's still Harry!" Hermione yelled.

"And I'm glad you see the difference, Hermione."

"Um, Ivy? Aren't you going to introduce us?" Selina asked.

"Ah. The man who was once a dog is Sirius Black, who was framed for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and betraying us. That ragged fellow is Remus Lupin. He's a werewolf. And don't scowl, Remus. Given that this is a city with a man who looks like a bloody crocodile, another who looks like a penguin, and never mind the one who actually looks like the offspring between a bat and a man rather than a guy in a costume, a werewolf would just cause a raised eyebrow. According to Legilimency, that woman is Nymphadora Tonks, for which you have my sincerest sympathies, Tonks. I knew Andromeda, and I thought her better than to name her daughter like that. Finally, that girl is Hermione Granger, who at least appreciates what work I did as a botanist before Woodrue took it away from me."

"I was an admirer of Dr Holland's work, too," Hermione confessed. "I thought it sad when I heard of his death."

"Technically, he's still around. It's a long story, but he is still alive, after a fashion. You might have heard of the Swamp Thing of Louisiana. That's what happened when a mutated plant copied Doctor Holland's consciousness. In the unlikely event that I get in contact with him, I'll let him know he still has fans. Anyway, the woman next to me, in case you lot from Britain didn't know, is Harleen Quinzel, better known as the Joker's sidekick, Harley Quinn. The brunette is Selina Kyle, the Catwoman. Introductions done. Now…"

"Why aren't any of the Weasleys here?" Harry asked.

"I had a bit of an argument with them," Hermione admitted. "Fred and George are with you all the way, Ivy being your mother or not. Ron and Ginny, however…don't get me wrong, they still think you're you, but they're worried you're being brainwashed by Ivy. While I did think about that, I also wanted to know the truth, and frankly, if _The Daily Prophet_ was right…Dumbledore has a lot to answer for."

"Broken clocks are right twice a day," Ivy sneered, more at the concept of _The Daily Prophet_ being correct than anything Hermione said. "All I did was bring my son into his full inheritance. We are both Plant Elementals, a heritage Dumbledore bound in both of us. Woodrue awoke mine, imperfectly, while I woke Harry's with a more refined method. Incidentally, while that was happening, something rather dark and nasty came from his scar. A fragment of Voldemort's soul."

"A Horcrux?!" Sirius demanded.

"So you know of them," Ivy observed.

"I get bored, I read my family library. There wasn't much on them, though. I guess they're too dark for even my family to touch with a ten foot pole. How the hell did Harry get a Horcrux in him?!"

"I can only guess, but he nearly died when it left him," Ivy said.

"I've heard rumours about them while training for Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching. Some sort of soul container, containing a soul fragment so that if the user dies, they are tied to the mortal plane. I only thought them rumours of a vile ritual," Remus mused. "Voldemort could not have made Harry a Horcrux deliberately."

"He probably wanted to use Harry's death to create one," Ivy said. "Murder is a key part of Horcrux creation. He probably made so many, his soul fell apart when he failed to kill Harry. I worked at the Department of Mysteries, remember? I studied many arcane magic, particularly that relating to the soul. Violate the integrity of the soul too much, and it becomes fragile."

"Red, can we get to the point?" Harley asked. "I'm bored now."

"Hush, Harley." Ivy looked at Harry. "Harry," she said quietly. "Realistically, Fudge will never let you back into Hogwarts. He'll use who I am as an excuse. And I don't want you anywhere near Dumbledore ever again, or Snape for that matter."

"But…I can't leave my friends! Mum, don't make me choose between my friends and you! I've only actually known you properly for what, a day or two? And if I leave Britain…Voldemort wins."

Ivy scoffed quietly. "Normally, I would say that it's not my problem. The thing is, though, do you think Voldemort would stand idle with me still being alive? I managed to fool him with some magic into believing that he killed me. Voldemort has supporters in the US. The US mages, if anything, were even more conservative than the British until relatively recently, odd as that sounds. He'd probably only send some Death Eaters at first. Besides, he didn't learn his lesson the first time around. Seeing as nobody else is going to get off their arses and stop him…well, unless you were really planning on letting my son face him alone."

"Why would I?" Hermione asked. "Mrs Potter…"

"No. Don't _ever_ call me that, Hermione. If you are going to use a name other than my nom de guerre, call me Miss Evans or, if you're brave enough, Lily. Or Pamela Isley. But do NOT call me Mrs Potter."

Hermione winced, realising how close she came to pissing off one of Gotham's most infamous criminals. "Sorry…Lily. Harry…Harry, frankly, was my first friend. I don't know whether he told you, but he took on a Troll for me. He and Ron saved my life. Why the hell would I let him face Voldemort alone? I only let him mourn alone because Dumbledore suggested he needed some space, and that sounded okay to me. I made a mistake there, but if it comes to actually fighting Voldemort, I'd be there right beside him. So don't you _dare_ say I would let him face Voldemort alone."

Ivy chuckled. "You know, you remind me of myself when I was your age. Eager to learn, with this marvellous self-righteous indignation. You've got more courage in you than most of Gryffindor. And intelligence. Why the Sorting Hat put me there, I've no idea." Her eyes flickered over to the others. "Well? Are you going to let Harry stand alone?"

"No. I can't do much, though. I'm a fugitive," Sirius said. "I was lucky Moony could make a Portkey for us all."

"This coming from the man who broke twenty Hogwarts rules before breakfast each day?" Ivy asked acidly. "Or are you Dumbledore's little lapdog? Then roll over and play dead, because I have nothing left to say to you. Other than to put you down if you're a threat to me and mine."

"…I'm doing this for Harry, not for you. You murdered my best friend," Sirius said.

After a moment, Remus said, "While what James did was vile, I can't condone what you did, even if it was to protect Harry. But I intend to protect Harry. Have you got a Pensieve with memories of what happened?"

"Of course. Had to improvise a Pensieve, and it'll still work for a while yet. And you, Tonks?"

"Like Remus said, I can't condone what you did to James Potter, especially as an Auror, not to mention what you did as Poison Ivy. But Voldemort's a bigger threat, and so's Dumbledore if what you claim is true."

"Good. Then we are in accord. I will bring you to my hideout, but it's under the Fidelius. You can't tell anyone else where it is, as I am the Secret Keeper. Then, we'll discuss what to do about Voldemort, and Dumbledore…"

* * *

Bruce Wayne, known as well under his nom de guerre of the Batman, was troubled. It was for a simple reason, one many would consider trivial: he had forgotten something. Alfred certainly thought so, at least until Barbara and Tim realised they had forgotten the very same thing. It was the location of one of Poison Ivy's occasional hideouts. And with her and Harley Quinn currently out of Arkham, and their whereabouts unknown, that was concerning.

Not only that, but he had received notification through contacts in England that the Joker Toxin had been used to murder two people in Surrey, Vernon and Petunia Dursley. The house was apparently being investigated, and their son being questioned, as another boy who had been living there, one Harry Potter, the nephew of Petunia, was currently missing. Evidence in the household suggested that Potter may have been abused. But the Joker was in Arkham Asylum. Perhaps a subordinate had kidnapped Potter and used the Joker Toxin to kill the Dursleys. Or someone had used Joker Toxin to throw investigators off the scent.

While he had Barbara look into Potter's history, he decided to contact one of the people he knew had anything to do with memory: Zatanna Zatara. Their friendship had cooled for a time in the wake of the Doctor Light fiasco, but they were back on fairly good terms. He doubted she was responsible, but she might know who, or at least what, was. He contacted her through a secure line from the Batcave to JLA Headquarters.

When she picked up the phone, he said, "Zatanna, it's me."

" _Bruce…I was going to call you before long._ "

Bruce found himself frowning, perturbed. She was going to contact him? "I needed to ask you about something. For some strange reason, the location of one of Ivy's hideouts has been erased from my memory, as well as that of Barbara's and Tim's."

After a moment, Zatanna swore. " _Bruce, it was about Ivy that I was going to contact you. I don't think it's a coincidence. There's a big mess brewing in Britain because of who she really is. Even John's over here, and you know what he's like about working with us. Does the name Harry Potter ring a bell?_ "

The frown deepened. "Not until I received information from contacts in England about his aunt and uncle being murdered with Joker Toxin."

" _Wait, what?! Bruce…you're not going to believe this, but in Magical Britain, Harry Potter is one of the most famous people there, albeit for the wrong reasons. He survived an attack by a wizard terrorist back in '91, and became famous as the Boy Who Lived, because he survived a spell nobody else could. Supposedly, his parents died…except the wizarding newspapers over there are claiming that his mother, Lily Potter, is still alive. What's more, she had her memories altered, and she was sent over here to the US…under the name of Pamela Isley._ "

Bruce felt a chill run through his soul. Eventually, he said, "I'm heading to the JLA HQ ASAP. I want to hear everything, Zatanna."

" _Just as well, Bruce. It's a long story_ …"

 **CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, with the first substantial appearance of Bruce Wayne. Batman will be mildly antagonistic in this story, but only because he opposes Ivy. He'd be more concerned with Ivy influencing her son, as well as a possible attack by Voldemort.**

 **I have to admit, I was astonished at how popular this story proved to be, with over 5K views on the first day of its publication. Bloody hell…**

 **Now, the pairing is still up in the air, but a review from bigrig56 brought another character back onto the table. One of the pairings I considered for this story was Raven of the Teen Titans, but I had, for the moment, discarded that possibility for a few reasons. The first is that there is no Raven in the character tags for Batman fics. The second is, I only really know the character through what little I have watched of the** ** _Teen Titans_** **TV series. However, I may yet still come back to it, as Harry and Raven do have to deal with magic, fluctuating emotions, and villains for parents. Plus, out of all the Titans, I like Raven most. Let's face it, the only other remotely serious DC comics character I seriously considered to pair with Harry was Cassandra Cain, aka Batgirl. Well, one of them.**

 **Oh, and I have this most marvellous idea. Well, some of you will hate me for it. But I think it's somewhat fitting.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Reishin Amara** **: I don't remember the specific fic, though I have read one or two where Harry was bunged up in Arkham. Given the cane toad infestation in Queensland, I think that's a rather excellent way of dealing with them.**

 **coduss** **: Fascinating as the concept is, I'm not including Doctor Gotham in this. Most of the DC characters in this story will be mostly Batman ones, with some picked and chosen from the others.**

 **Heika** **: I am well aware of that, having two degrees in the health field, and thus knowing something about organelles and biology. If you noticed the wording, she said that they have chloroplasts as well as mitochondria. Even if I make stuff up when it comes to biology for my stories, I know enough about many concepts to be able to do some plausible crap.**

 **diagonalpumpkin** **: Ivy has yet to forgive Snape. I might do an evil Snape, or a good but deeply flawed one. Depends on what catches my eye.**

 **Fireofargentis** **: My wording was correct, as Harry was afraid that Ivy would hate him for being forced to bear a child while under the influence. And unlike Voldemort, Ivy loved Harry anyway, so the argument of a child born under Amortentia doesn't quite work. That being said, his nature as a Plant Elemental protecting him has merit, so yeah, we'll go with that.**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	8. Chapter 7: Talk of Harry Potter

**CHAPTER 7:**

 **TALK OF HARRY POTTER**

In the library of the JLA Headquarters, a teenaged girl read quietly. Considering the various members and associates of the Justice League of America ranged from the human to the superhuman to the alien, her appearance, while exotic in normal terms, was relatively mundane. True, her skin was somewhat pale grey, her eyes were purple, and she was dressed in what looked like a black leotard over which she wore a blue hooded cape. On her forehead was a single red jewel. Her hair, like her eyes, was purple, and cut in a short bob. But she was quite beautiful, especially for her sixteen years of age, a sixteen years she never thought she would attain without causing the end of life as we know it. And that had been a near thing, hence why she was in JLA HQ.

She was born Rachel Roth, but to the public at large, as well as her comrades and colleagues in the superhero community, she was known as the Raven.

After a near-miss in nearly allowing her demonic father, Trigon the Terrible, into this plane, Rachel opted to leave the Teen Titans. She had taken up an offer of members of the JLA to help her train in keeping her powers restrained. It was tough, but Rachel was willing to do what she had to in order to prevent a repeat.

She was feeling more confident in herself, so that was something. She still felt uneasy around others, and her emotional control and her tendency to speak her mind bluntly didn't help, though a few of the senior members of the JLA actually enjoyed her bluntness. Certainly the Batman appreciated her frankness. She did irritate her erstwhile teacher, Zatanna, who was more outgoing.

It was getting late, but she didn't really feel like sleeping. Instead, she read. So she was a little irritated when people came into the library, talking, even in hushed tones. She looked up over the book she was reading (a rare book by Nicholas Flamel about the dangers of alchemy) to find Zatanna and another man talking.

Zatanna was a dark-haired young woman (well, she looked younger than she was) who wore the top half of the traditional garb of a stage magician, over a leotard, fishnet stockings and high heels. The daughter of famed magician Giovanni 'John' Zatara, she was famous both on stage, and with the JLA. She was also a good friend of the Batman, the whole business with Doctor Light aside. She was holding a newspaper.

The man talking to her was a shabby, blonde-haired man with handsome, if somewhat sardonic features marred by stubble. He was dressed in a trenchcoat, and he stank of tobacco smoke. While not really distinctive to anyone not in the know, he was readily recognisable to those in the know as John Constantine, one of the most famous occult detectives in the world, sometimes given the sobriquet of the Hellblazer, though he hated that name.

"…right old mess," Constantine was saying. "Those idiot wizards are running around looking for someone to blame. Dumbledore, Potter, Sirius Black, Ivy…and given how Gotham's the Batman's patch, well…I actually had that idiot Fudge call me up, offer me a load of Galleons to head there and track down Potter and his mum, even though the last time he contacted me, he threatened to send Dementors after me. So naturally, I told him where to stick that offer."

"Potter?" The name was familiar to Rachel, as were the other names, which leant context. And despite her usual recalcitrance to get involved in these things, she found her curiosity aroused. "Do you mean the Boy Who Lived?"

Zatanna noticed Rachel sitting there, and then said, "Oh, sorry, Raven. We didn't think anyone was using the library at the moment."

"That is why I came here. It's quiet," Rachel said pointedly, a tone of rebuke entering her voice involuntarily. "What is this about Harry Potter?"

Zatanna seemed to debate with herself whether to bring Rachel in, before she finally handed Rachel the newspaper. Rachel's eyes flickered over the headlines and the articles, absorbing the information, before she frowned. "I thought _The Daily Prophet_ was filled with hyperbole and exaggeration, if not outright fabrication."

"That's a polite way of putting it," Constantine said with a wry grin. "It's not always inaccurate, but it's basically tabloid bog roll fodder, and the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Magic. As you know, Raven, the Magical Congress here ain't much better. But Fudge's got it into his head that Dumbledore wants his position, and Harry's a deluded pawn of the old goat. This is an attack on both of them. When I first read the headline, I thought, _bollocks_. But then, I realised, Ivy looked so much like photos of Lily Potter, it ain't funny. Don't get me wrong, I reckon Dumbledore and Harry are right about the Dark Wanker being back. But I know some pretty disturbing things about Dumbledore."

"Besides the fact that he expelled you from Hogwarts?" Zatanna asked wryly.

"I was framed by the bloody Marauders!" Constantine snapped. "Arseholes, the lot of them! Well, except for Lupin, he was okay. Anyway, apparently Dumbledore was good mates with Grindlewald earlier in life. And I have to wonder at some of his decisions."

"You can talk about this when Batman gets here," Zatanna said.

"He'd probably hate Zeta Tubes as much as I do," Constantine grumbled.

After a moment, Raven made a decision. The story of Harry Potter was of some small interest to her, partly because of her intellectual curiosity at how he had managed to survive the Killing Curse, and partly because she heard of his exploits during the Tri-Wizard Tournament fiasco. "I want to hear more. When will Batman arrive?"

"I'm already here," came a very familiar voice behind them. Only training prevented Rachel from jumping.

Constantine flinched. "Bloody hell, I need to learn how to do that. I reckon I could give a few people heart attacks doing that."

Rachel noticed a faint smile playing around Batman's mouth as he moved from behind her. He looked at her briefly, considering whether to include her in the conversation, before deciding to do so. "As you seem to know more about Harry Potter than I do, as well as this situation, tell me what I want to know."

* * *

"Son of a bitch…" Hermione hissed as she emerged from the makeshift Pensieve in Ivy's hideout. That was something of a shock to Harry, as Hermione was always rebuking Ron for swearing. "I mean, I know there are ways of faking Pensieve memories, but I know what to look out for."

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"I read a lot, and after hearing you talk about the Pensieve last year, I started looking things up about them to read over the summer."

"You've inherited your uncle's enjoyment of knowledge, then," Ivy observed.

"We don't talk about him much at home," Hermione admitted. "He's the black sheep of the family, though my grandfather on that side was a pretty nasty sort. We visited him whenever he was on parole. When we said we went to France just after our second year, Harry, we actually went to Gotham. We didn't want the neighbours knowing. He found out I was a witch at that time. He thought it amusing. We stayed in contact afterwards. My mother persuaded him to get out of doing all those robberies, and straighten up. He's not exactly reformed now, but information brokering is better than doing all those robberies. We even exchange emails when I'm out of Hogwarts. He's a bit annoyed that I'm more of a fan of the Batman, but he's also proud that I'm one of the few who can keep up with his riddles and puzzles."

"We're moving off the point," Remus said. "These memories definitely weren't altered. The problem is, who can we trust within the Order of the Phoenix to stop Voldemort and Dumbledore?"

"Not the Weasleys. They're die-hard Dumbledore supporters, even if they're good people," Tonks said, running a hand through her hair, the pink changing to a navy blue. "Moody may be a supporter, but I think he has doubts."

"True," Ivy mused. "Moody's suspicious of anyone and everyone. He's also got a more flexible moral attitude than Dumbledore, overtly, anyway. Can't exclude him, anyway. Can't trust Fletcher, though. Shifty little bastard. What about Shacklebolt?"

"I think he's more loyal to Dumbledore, but even if we persuade him that Dumbledore is behind these things, his next loyalty is to the law," Remus said. "In spirit, anyway. I mean, he's been helping divert the DMLE away from Sirius. He'd be worried about Harry being under your influence, Dumbledore or not."

"He'd be a lot like Commissioner Gordon, then," Ivy mused. "Nobody else, then? I mean, other than Snape. I intend to introduce him to some _very_ intimate vines."

"Not that we can think of," Sirius said. "And if you're going to do anything painful and humiliating to Snape…can I watch? Or at least can you send me pictures?"

"I'd send you a video if you had one," Ivy said. "But it won't be long before either Dumbledore or Voldemort, probably both, send someone over. And of course, if magic gets thrown around Gotham too much, it won't be long before the Batman takes notice. Once we've dealt with Dumbledore and/or Voldemort, or at least whoever they send over here, I intend to take the fight to Britain. In the meantime, I intend to train Harry in his powers as a Plant Elemental. If you wish, Hermione, I can teach you some handy spells. Given that you're a Muggleborn in a society that puts a premium on blood purity, you'll need them. Sirius, you can do with somewhere else to hide than under Dumbledore's skirt. As for you two…I know how to brew Wolfsbane, Remus."

"Is that an invitation to stay?" Remus asked.

"For the time being, until we can get a proper plan together. This place is under the Fidelius, and I am the Secret Keeper. There's enough room for you all, as long as you don't hurt my children."

"Children?" Tonks asked.

"She means the plants, darlin'," Harley said. "She gets a bit miffed when people hurt them. There was that one time Puddin' tinkled on them for kicks, and she damn near ripped his winkle off."

"The Joker deserved it. Urine may be filled with urea and other nitrogen compounds, but all of his bodily fluids are also filled with compounds lethal to my children, and he knows it. Comes from his exposure to those chemicals he plays around with. Otherwise, I would have turned him into Blood and Bone fertiliser for them long ago. Harley's lucky that she's got some small innate immunity to them, even before I gave her even more."

"TMI, Mum," Harry groaned. "Same to you, Harley, for bringing that up in the first place." And for using childish terms like 'tinkled' and 'winkle', especially when used to denote the Joker.

Harley pouted. "You're no fun."

"Someone has to keep you on the straight and narrow," Selina said. "Well, relatively speaking. Ivy and her son can do that for you."

"But I don't wanna be on the straight and narrow! It's so _boring!_ "

Sirius looked at Ivy. "And she's your lover?"

"She has her moments of charm," Ivy said. "Away from the Joker, she's more benign. Just don't piss her off. She can kick your arse. Batman only makes her look incompetent. She is far from it. Anyway, I think it's time we got to sleep. We'll deal with this in the morning…"

* * *

Batman looked thoughtful. "So, Lily Potter may have used her regained magic and memories to use this Fidelius Charm on her hideouts."

"It's the best explanation, at least from a magical point of view. I mean, there are other ways, but it makes sense that she'd want to conceal her hideout in such a manner," Zatanna said.

"Yeah, and it's virtually impossible to crack," Constantine said. "Only if Lily dies, or gives up the info voluntarily. And even if she dies, those she's told the secret to become new Secret Keepers. Of course, the Keeper can actually undo the charm if they want to. That's probably what happened at Godric's Hollow. Supposedly, it was Sirius Black who betrayed them, but I had my doubts about that. Black and Potter were as thick as thieves. Black may have come from a pretty dark family, but he was loyal to that prick James Potter. I'm guessing it was Pettigrew. He was always the weakest link, they probably chose him as a bluff."

"We can always ask Harry. He may know. He apparently encountered Sirius Black a couple of years ago, when Black first escaped Azkaban," Zatanna said.

"Assuming we can find him," Batman said. "He'd most likely be at Ivy's hideout. So too would Quinn."

"And you can't ask Catwoman about it, as she'd be a secondary Secret Keeper, only unable to tell anyone else about where it is. Assuming she's been there," Zatanna pointed out.

"If this spell is cast on a modern building, would communications still work?" Batman asked.

"You mean like a phone call? Yeah, but it'd be impossible to trace," Constantine said.

"Then I'll be paying a visit to the Riddler. He has contacts with most of my enemies in Gotham. I want to contact Ivy, get her story. Even if she lies, I'll have more to go on."

Rachel, who had been quiet during most of Batman's musings, said, "I'll come with you."

"…Any particular reason, Raven?" Batman asked. "Do you want to see Robin again?"

"That is a slight factor, I will admit," Rachel said. Tim Drake, after all, had been one of the more understanding members of the Teen Titans. Garfield 'Beast Boy' Logan was a pain, even if he was friendly. But Tim had stood by her, even when that whole business with Trigon blew up. "I also wish to test my new skills and control, to refine what Zatanna and J'onn taught me. I miss field work, even though my training is vital. I also admit, I am interested in Potter, and given that he may be, like his mother, a Plant Elemental…"

"Yeah, well, you'd better be careful, Raven," Constantine said. "I've dealt with Plant Elementals before. Swamp Thing's pretty benign if you don't piss him off, but some of the others, well, Poison Ivy and that twat Woodrue are pretty bad. Besides, you better not go all fangirl on Potter. Poor kid's probably had his fill of those."

Rachel scoffed quietly. "My interest is mostly intellectual, particularly how he survived that night. In any case, Batman may also need a mage on his side in case the magicals get involved, especially those from Britain. And with Zatanna on duty here for the time being…"

"I'll come too," Constantine said. "Lily knew me at school before I was expelled. Plus, you might need an extra pair of eyes and feet on the ground if magicals start throwing shit around. Gotham's already dealt with enough shit with your rogues' gallery, Batman. If Voldemort or his followers show up…well…it might make that earthquake look like a tickle by comparison."

"I'm not afraid of them. Only what they'll do to the people of Gotham while trying to find Ivy and Potter," Batman said. "And…I have to wonder…how much of Ivy, the Ivy I knew, was Lily Potter? How much did the tampering with her mind affect her true nature?" He shook his head. "I intend to work under the assumption she is as dangerous as ever, if not more so. After all, she knows magic now."

Rachel didn't need to be told that. While her magic was different to that most wizards and witches used (partly due to her heritage, though few in the Justice League or associated groups used it), it went without saying that magic, no matter what form it was, was trouble. Magic was one of the few things that affected Superman, after all. And with Ivy being one of Batman's more troublesome opponents, it might make things worse. Then again, it could be very, very worse. There were worse rogues who could have magic, after all…

* * *

In the depths of Arkham Asylum, in a cell that was meant to be the most secure of all, the prisoner stared at the door he had just opened by snapping his fingers. He snapped them again, and the door closed. He repeated this a few times, before laughter began to worm its way from his mouth. _This explains a lot_ , he thought to himself. _Oh, and it feels like an old friend who has finally returned. This is gonna be_ _ **fun**_ …

 **CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Oh dear. Another of Batman's enemies has magic. And I know that when all is revealed, there's gonna be a lot of cries of dismay at who it is and why. I only just thought of the idea while writing the previous chapter, but I think it works.**

 **I'm also laying the groundwork for potential Raven/Harry shipping, though leaving it just open enough to change if necessary. This version of Raven was inspired by the one from the TV series, but she is much younger than Dick Grayson or Starfire in this story (those two are in their twenties by this point, and left the Teen Titans years ago). She has fought alongside Tim Drake's Robin, along with Beast Boy.**

 **I also hope you like how I portrayed Constantine. I've only really read his appearances in** ** _The Sandman_** **and** ** _The Books of Magic_** **, so I'm sorry if I didn't quite get him. If it helps, he's a different version of the character. Yes, I know in the comics he's a relatively normal guy who knows some magic, but doesn't have any magic heritage. Here, he does, but he's had bad experiences with the authorities in Magical Britain.**

 **Review-answering time!** **SonicAnime2010** **: Sirius was almost as bad as James, thinking himself God's gift to humanity at the time. He wouldn't go as far as James would, though, and would have turned on James in a second if he knew the truth. He's currently in denial. Remus, as noted earlier, actually freed Lily from her Amortentia once he heard of it. He didn't want Lily to kill James, but he didn't want to stand idly by and do nothing.**

 **diagonalpumpkin** **: Batman would be wary of Harry, but willing enough to give him enough of a chance. He'd keep him under surveillance, but he also wouldn't automatically assume Harry's a villain. He'd just think Harry needs to have an eye on him.**

 **coduss** **: Batman, for the moment, is trying to find out the truth of the situation. Even so, Ivy is a convicted murderer who has escaped from custody. Batman would probably just bring her enemies to justice along with her, but he would give Harry a chance.**

 **Man of Constant Sorrow** **: I had to wonder at your comments, and the only explanation I could think of was because two of the main characters are women in a lesbian relationship. For this story, Ivy and Harley are bisexual. I'm neither a feminist or lesbian. Hell, I'm a man. I'm a misanthrope too, so that's probably what's coming through.**

 **Guest** **: Well…let's just say…way ahead of you.**

 **No numbered annotations.**


	9. Chapter 8: Serendipity

**CHAPTER 8:**

 **SERENDIPITY**

People thought that Rachel Roth was without emotion, even many of her teammates, save for a dry wit and irritation and annoyance at those who bothered her. In truth, she controlled her emotions. It didn't mean she couldn't enjoy things. Her enjoyment was merely more subtle, and her tastes were often tangential to that of mainstream society.

Tim Drake at least understood this, as did Bruce Wayne, aka the Batman. Which was why, after sleeping overnight at Wayne Manor, Rachel decided to explore Gotham. It had been some time since she was last here. And she could do some recon while Bruce Wayne slept. She left notifying Alfred and Constantine where she had gone, and had agreed to take a communicator with her, just in case. A little known fact about her was that her clothing was a construct made of her own shadow magic. If she wished, she could reconfigure the hooded cloak and leotard into jeans and a shirt, which she did. It meant she could pass with less comment than she would normally. She could also hide the gem on her forehead.

Her wanderings took her to Robinson Park, a known haunt of Ivy's, and she paused. She could sense the faint signature of recently-used magic in the air. At least as old as the prior evening.

She then realised someone was nearby, and she whirled to find Constantine there, smoking one of his foul cigarettes. "You followed me."

"Not exactly. If I followed you, or went with you, well, you're sixteen, I'm thirty-something, unshaven and wearing a trenchcoat, someone'd be calling me a paedophile before you can say 'Mad Hettie'. I went on my own little walk. I got here just after you did. You can feel it, can't you? Standard wizard magic. Versatile in many regards, but not as powerful as the stuff we're used to, not usually, anyway."

"Someone used privacy wards of some kind," Rachel said quietly.

"More than that. I think I know that scent. Sharp, almost like ozone…given that there's no scorch marks, it's not a lightning spell. I'm gonna go with Legilimency."

"Mind-reading?" Rachel mused with a frown. "But there's nothing suggesting any kind of struggle, so they went through it willingly." Intoning her mantra _Azarath Metrion Zinthos_ quietly to herself, she checked the area with a spell to see who had been here recently. "Two Plant Elementals, a Metamorphagus, an Animagus, a werewolf, a witch, and two normal humans were here. It's too early to tell, but the Plant Elementals may have been Ivy and Potter."

"I'd bet money on the werewolf being Remus Lupin if that's the case," Constantine said. "I was in Slytherin. Technically, I was a Halfblood, but my father was a Squib, and my mother fell by the wayside after Hogwarts 'cause she was a Muggleborn. Anyway, I figured out he was a werewolf. I think that's why the Marauders got me kicked out, 'cause they thought I'd blab. Dumbledore threatened to throw me into Azkaban if I did blab. Lupin was a nice guy, though. He was the only one in the Marauders not to automatically assume Slytherins were evil or Death Eaters on the make."

"As fascinating as it is to hear about your personal history, Constantine, we need to see if we can find them," Rachel said, a little acidly. "The two normal humans…perhaps Harley Quinn and Selina Kyle. Those two are known to associate with Poison Ivy. Though I'm not sure I can call Quinn at all normal."

Constantine nodded. "Well, we'll split up. I'll go and check out Kovurt Alley. According to Zatanna, that's Gotham's main magical enclave. You keep having a look around. See if you can use your powers to figure out the rough general location of where they are. Even with the Fidelius in place, you might be able to find traces to narrow down where they are. If trouble happens, get back to base." He then walked away, the awful smell of that bloody cigarette lingering like some sort of mephitic ghost.

Rachel sighed, before she gently intoned her mantra. " _Azarath Metrion Zinthos_ ," she murmured. She focused her magic, before using it to try and find whether any Plant Elementals were nearby. She blinked, realising that one was elsewhere in the park. Very close, too.

Should she confront whoever it was? No, not if it was potentially Ivy. Just in case things went south, anyway. She was about to use a spell to do some surveillance on them when she felt two magical signatures suddenly appear close to the Plant Elemental. And the malice she could feel from them…they clearly were up to no good.

Given that she had told Batman she intended to mitigate any magical battles in Gotham, she decided to get there as soon as possible. It might be dangerous, but she had faced worse than a pair of belligerent wizards. After all, inner demons should not be as literal as Rachel had. She therefore shifted her clothes into her standard outfit, and then shifted into a raven form, making haste as she did so.

* * *

Harry needed to go for a walk to clear his head. His mother only let him do so after giving him a Portkey in a ring. The events of the last day or so had proven to be a little much for him, and understandably so. He was glad Hermione had taken it as well as she had, that his mother was Poison bloody Ivy. Then again, maybe it was because her uncle was the Riddler. That explained a lot.

The only thing he was sure of in this situation was that he could use his mother's help to help train himself up to fight Voldemort. And Dumbledore, if need be. Which was why he had come back to Robinson Park, trying to find a quiet, isolated area to think. Sadly, he didn't realise he was being followed until it was too late.

" _Stupefy._ " Harry whirled at the too-familiar voice, only to find that he wasn't alone. Two wizards, one he recognised as Lucius Malfoy, the other as Walden Macnair, the man who had intended to kill Buckbeak, were standing there, their wands at the ready, just near a wall overgrown with vines. But they were staring in shock at a third person, who even now was holding a red ball of energy in her hand, surrounding by a strange darkness.

The person was wearing a hooded cloak, dark blue in colour. And judging by the slender arm, it was a girl about his age. Though the grey skin was a bit odd. "He's not accepting gifts at the moment," the girl snarked in a voice that, while about his age, had a world-weary edge that made it sound much older.

"You dare interfere with Ministry business? Potter is a dangerous creature and a fugitive," Malfoy snarled.

"One, this is the United States. The authority here is the Magical Congress, not the Ministry of Magic. Two, neither of you are Aurors to my knowledge. Three, I can sense your malice a mile away, not to mention your little tattoos."

Macnair sneered. "Don't interfere if you know what's good for you, you half-breed slut. Yeah, I know you. That little bitch who was sired by Trigon the Terrible, the one running around with those Muggles."

"Said Muggles could hospitalise you. I won't be so merciful if you don't leave," the girl said.

Harry began drawing on his powers as Malfoy raised his wand. "You have been warned, girl!" But even as he prepared to unleash a spell, Harry caused the vines on the nearby wall to lash out and grab him. Malfoy swore as the vines pulled him to the wall.

Macnair snarled, and fired off a Stunner spell, only for the girl to swat it away, and then send him flying with a blast of dark energy that seemed to cause him to briefly flare from positive to negative. "You bore me," the girl said. "Isn't the definition of madness repetition and expecting a different result?"

"No, I think around here, it's the Joker," Harry snarked.

"True enough," the girl said.

Malfoy glared at Harry, before he vanished with a pop. So too did Macnair, though he looked to be wincing in pain as he did so. "Thanks anyway," Harry said.

"You're welcome," the girl said, turning to face Harry. Now that he had a good look at her from the front, he realised that she looked familiar. The hood obscured most of her face, leaving only her purple eyes to glint from within the shadows, appraising him. Her mouth was visible, with something between a pensive look and a mild scowl touching her lips. Her cape was draped around herself, but he saw that she wore a black leotard underneath.

"Wait a moment…aren't you the Raven, one of the Teen Titans?" Harry asked, blinking. "I didn't think you operated in Gotham."

"Your powers of observation do you credit. I don't do autographs," Raven snarked. "And you are Harry Potter, known by that asinine nickname of the Boy Who Lived. I didn't think you operated in Gotham, or do autographs, either."

After a moment, and deciding he hadn't been insulted much, Harry said, "Yeah, I don't. Last one I did was for Colin Creevey. What're you doing in Gotham, then?"

Raven looked at him oddly, before she said, "The Batman's heard about your mother being Ivy, and he wanted mages to help him out in case Voldemort decided to act. I happened to be investigating the park when I sensed your presence, and those of the two Death Eaters."

"And you decided to help," Harry said flatly. "Knowing that my mother is Poison Ivy."

"You're not Poison Ivy. And despite the excremental rubbish _The Daily Prophet_ prints, I doubt you're a delusional madman or a villain. Though I have to ask, are you really a Parselmouth?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I was just curious. The idiots in Britain forget that Paracelsus was a benign Parselmouth(1). I personally think it interesting. Besides, you're not the only one looked askance at for your parentage."

"You mean Trigon the Terrible?" Harry didn't actually know much about Raven's background. He had seen images of her, though: Dudley's room was plastered with posters of various superheroes, especially the female ones. "Who's that?" He then winced when he realised how tactless it was. Like, Ronald Weasley level of tactlessness.

Raven, however, merely looked at him stoically, before saying, "Let's just say that he makes Voldemort look like a kitten. Those idiots called me a half-breed. He's a demon, one of the most evil and powerful of them all."

After a moment, after hearing all that, Harry could only do one thing. He gently hugged the Teen Titan, who recoiled slightly. "You're _hugging_ me," Raven said, partly annoyed, and partly surprised.

"Sorry, you don't look like you've had enough of those," Harry said quietly. "I know I haven't."

"Well, please stop. I don't do hugs."

"Oh, sorry," Harry said. He noticed that her hood had fallen down, revealing a pretty face framed by a bob of dark purple hair, a red gem adorning her forehead. "You're pretty without the hood, you know."

"Thanks," Raven said, blushing slightly as she put it back up, "but I don't do flirting any more than I do hugging. I take compliments where I can get them, though."

Harry shrugged, before asking, "You're not going to take me away from Ivy, are you? You or the Batman?"

"Not at the moment. Given that her memories of being Lily Potter have been restored, we're taking a wait and see approach, though the Batman intends to make contact with your mother."

"Well, if he does, tell her to call her Lily Evans. Not Potter. She's got issues about my father. As in she might react badly."

"Very well. Amortentia is pretty nasty when used to secure a relationship. I'll let him know."

"All right. And thanks again for helping me out."

"Again, you're welcome," Raven said. Her cloak and the leotard she wore underneath it shimmered and rippled, until it became a pair of dark jeans and a shirt, white gothic lettering spelling out _NEVERMORE_ , on a black background. The jewel on her forehead faded away. "Your skills are not too bad yourself, given that you only just learned what you are. You'll have to train them more, though, given what's coming. Be seeing you." She then walked away, leaving Harry bemused.

His first encounter with a superhero. And it had gone better than he thought. At least she had helped him out, and had been honest with him. More than many of his so-called friends and allies had been, though at least Hermione, Sirius, and Remus had apologised. Oh, and Raven was a looker. Okay, she was weird-looking with the grey skin and the purple hair and eyes, but even so…

Well, someone like that would be beyond his reach. He was just Harry Potter. And all that overblown hype of the Boy Who Lived aside, he was no superhero. Anyway, who would accept him as one with Poison Ivy as a mother?

* * *

A man walked out of Arkham Asylum, whistling a cheerful little tune. Namely, _Do You Believe in Magic?_ , by the Lovin' Spoonful(2). Ah, magic. How he had missed it. And while he wanted to cause quite a bit of chaos breaking out, it was funnier to make them think he was still in his cell, and THEN cause chaos and mayhem when they least expected it. After all, the best pranks were those that weren't expected. Some furniture took some tricky Transfiguration to turn into a breathing, sleeping body. The guards wouldn't notice anything amiss at first, and then, they'd think he was in a coma.

Ah, his old teacher would be proud of his prowess. Though she wouldn't be proud of much else he had done. Well, she was a dried-up old turd anyway. Always so serious and humourless, making the Bat look positively mirthful by comparison.

Still, magic explained so much, like how he had managed to escape all those situations that he nearly died from. Apparition, he wagered, from magic surging forth when he was on the verge of dying. But now, the magic had come back. And with them, memories of a life he had left far behind.

To tell the truth, he didn't like having a definitive past. As he once told the Batman, if he had a say in what his past was like, he would have preferred it to be multiple choice. He didn't like being tied down and defined by a single past. He preferred the past to be misty, elusive, where one moment, he was a failed comedian who had a really bad day, and another, he was a former gangster who had a rather memorable encounter with the Batman. But now, it spoiled things. To one degree, at least.

But to another, well, it was refreshing in a way. It explained so much. Like why he hated that Ivy bitch (or redheads in general: there was another reason he shot and crippled Commissioner Gordon's little slut). Why he enjoyed jokes and pranks, even those that killed people. Why he hated the dark and brooding types, who looked more like gargoyles than men.

The Joker chuckled softly to himself as he skipped away from Arkham Asylum. This, he thought to himself, was going to be FUN…

 **CHAPTER 8 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Well, Harry and Raven have met (and have successfully avoided the whole 'let's you and him fight' thing heroes do when they first meet up), and the Joker's hiding a secret. Yes, I know a lot of you have been or are going to be putting two and two together, given the hints I've been dropping. This is something I've had in mind for a few chapters. It'll be controversial, but it fits in this story. It was one of those ideas that I knew would work, in my mind, anyway.**

 **Review-answering time! (Holy shit, over 100 reviews already from just 3 postings!)** **Andren** **: In this story at least, James was worse than Sirius. James only stopped Snape from being mauled by Remus because he got cold feet and didn't want to get expelled, with Remus' possible execution being a secondary concern.**

 **Blaze1992** **: I don't do harem fics (** ** _Henry Ashford and the Goblet of Fire_** **being the only exception to date). Harry's powers will be similar to Ivy's, but I haven't thought of any actual differences yet. Harry will be Light or Grey, but not Dark, or at least not evil. And no, no Marvel elements will be making appearance.**

 **BadLuckRabbit** **: He's not going to be happy, but otherwise will make little of it. He's more angry with whoever defaced his parents' memorial plaque in Crime Alley…**

 **Guest** **: (Regarding their story idea) I do not take ideas or suggestions, as people who actually bother to read my profile would know (sadly, they never do). And there's already a few stories where the Joker adopts Harry. And James is far more bashable than Lily.**

 **Star Mage1** **: On innocents, probably. She'll still use them to get her way, but not to actually do anything beyond, say, getting them to unlock doors or drop their weapons. She certainly won't use her pheromones to seduce anyone.**

 **1\. According to the Harry Potter wiki, Paracelsus (Philippus von Hohenheim) was a benign Parselmouth, or at least it's implied, as he's not stated to be a dark wizard.**

 **2\. Given Joker's discovery of his magic, and the fact that this song was used to great effect in the** ** _Team Fortress 2_** **promo video** ** _Meet the Pyro_** **, I thought this was the perfect song for Joker to be whistling.**


	10. Chapter 9: The Killing Joke

**CHAPTER 9:**

 **THE KILLING JOKE**

Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose after Harry recounted what had happened during his sojourn. "Okay. First off, we are definitely upping your training. The Green could have warned you of the Death Eaters' approach, especially in a verdant area like Robinson Park, as well as Raven being in the vicinity. You just weren't listening enough."

"I'm new to all of this!" Harry retorted. "I've only just learned what I am, you expect me to have the instruction manual in my head already?"

Ivy sighed quietly, before saying, "No, and I understand that. Secondly, good job on handling your first encounter with one of the so-called superheroes. While I still want you to safeguard the plants of the world, as is your duty as a Planet Elemental, I don't intend to make you follow in my footsteps, Harry. I will train you in how to use your powers, I will teach you the proper respect for the Green, fight for the plants…but whether you join me or take your own path is up to you. You made a good enough impression on Raven that you could even join the Teen Titans if you wanted."

"You wouldn't mind?" Harry asked.

Ivy sighed. "Harry, my lifestyle's not a particularly good one. The best thing about it is my relationship with Harley, and, well, she's damaged goods." Harley was out of the room they were in, the garden of the garden centre, at the time. "I think she needs a good influence away from the Joker, and…well, I'm the best friend she has. We bicker and we fight, especially where the Joker is concerned…but when she's with me, she's less violent, less harmful to others, unless they attack her. And I can fight for my plants, in my own way. Poison Ivy still had a lot of Lily Evans in her, Harry. All that anger, the fighting for a cause, the willingness to do anything to save the ones I love. It was just twisted…and even now, it hasn't gone back to what it was, not wholly. I find myself…disgusted at the state of the world, mundane or magical. In a way, the Batman and I are not so unalike. He too hates the world as it is, and does his best to make it conform to how he sees it. Our differences are our priorities. He prioritises the lives of humans, and I, plants."

"Thanks, Mum. If we do part ways…I hope I don't have to fight you."

"Neither do I. And perhaps it's good that the first so-called superhero you've met was Raven. She would at least understand your situation. A mage with questionable lineage with a prophecy hanging over her head, like you. Doesn't hurt that she's pretty," Ivy said with a knowing smirk at Harry.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Harry protested. "I only just met her, anyway!"

Ivy chuckled. Then, she looked pensive again. "There may be another complicating factor. They may have brought Constantine over."

"Constantine?" Now this name wasn't actually familiar to Harry.

"You don't know him? John Constantine used to go to Hogwarts at the same time I did, before he was expelled, thanks to the Marauders. He was a Slytherin, and was pretty dodgy, but he was no Death Eater. He used to pull pranks on anyone who tried to draw him into the Death Eaters. He disavowed the wizarding world until events had him begin work as an occult detective. I only know of what he's done after Hogwarts by reputation: he's done more than a few questionable things in his career. He's sometimes known as the Hellblazer, because he's annoyed a lot of people above, between and below. Especially below. I'd bet he had come over once he read the _Prophet_. Look for someone who looks a bit like Sting in a trenchcoat. You know, the singer? Oh, wait, probably too young to know Sting."

"No, I saw him in the old _Dune_ movie…from the cupboard," Harry said. "He was Feyd Rautha, wasn't he?"

Ivy nodded. After a moment, she said, "John is a ruthless bastard, and a cunning one, very Slytherin. But he's managed to stop all sorts of hell from breaking loose, a lot of it very literal. Just try not to get close to him. His friends tend to die. Sometimes, it's not his fault."

* * *

Constantine sneezed a couple of times. He thought little of it. Instead, he made his way through Kovurt Alley, smoking like a cynically cheerful chimney, revelling a little in the effect his very presence had here.

In some ways, he and the Batman were very alike. They used their image, their successes, as weapons as potent as Batman's gadgets, or Constantine's magic. Not that Constantine used much of the magic of the wand-wavers anymore. Indeed, he only used magic when necessary. Then again, that dingus Dumbledore had erased many of his memories of spells. The old fart knew that John Constantine would be trouble in the future. And he was right.

But Constantine had had many successes against dangerous opponents. True, he had had many failures, and too many of his victories were pyrrhic ones. But his ability to fight off many beings who'd have the Aurors pissing themselves added to a mystique, so much so that he could basically get a few of his foes to surrender just by turning up. Mostly mortal magicians.

He knew that someone was about to poke a wand (well, a cane that functioned as a wand) into his side seconds before they did it. It was an instinct rather than any sort of prescience. "You're getting sloppy, Constantine," growled a familiar voice.

"Not really," Constantine said cheerfully, pointing a finger where the speaker's groin would roughly be. "Do you really wanna sing soprano, Mad-Eye?"

Mad-Eye chuckled ruefully. "I've got enough bits of me missing, one more won't matter. This way."

Constantine followed Mad-Eye Moody to a nearby café, where Constantine ordered some coffee. Moody merely drank a pull from that damned hipflask of his. The old Auror was looking even more like Frankenstein's Monster than the last time Constantine saw him. Grizzled, scarred features, that blue magical eye whirling in its socket…

"What're you doing here?" Constantine asked.

"I could ask the same thing about you, lad," Moody scoffed. "I know you have ties with the Justice League. And given what's happened recently, I'd put money on there being only one reason why you're here. Harry Potter, and with him, his mother."

"You were sent here by Dumbledore, weren't you?"

"Aye. Though I'm beginning to wonder what's going through his head, apart from lemon sherbets and woolly thinking. He wanted me to try and find some associates of Potter before they can be influenced by Ivy. And while that's a possibility, I knew Lily. Then again, I thought I knew Dumbledore. This revelation has thrown some of his actions recently into a new light, none of it good. Don't get me wrong, I still think Potter being with Ivy's a bad idea. I just need to find out if being back at those Muggles in England was worse."

"So you're trying to find out the truth for yourself, Mad-Eye?"

"Aye. Not the truth as the Ministry or Dumbledore has it. Snape also heard that a couple of Death Eaters had been sent over to try and capture Potter and Ivy. The thing is, I haven't seen Dumbledore panic like this for a long time. I think the last time was when he found something in a cave near Hogwarts, a day or so after the Potters were supposed to have died. He had me destroy some pool of green liquid where some leylines crossed. All he said was, a monster emerged from it, that it was contaminated by dark magic."

"Green…liquid? At leylines?"

"Yeah, Hogwarts is built on a meeting of them, but there's clusters of leylines meeting all around it. Why? Is that significant?"

"Well, if I didn't know any better, that sounded a bit like a Lazarus Pit," Constantine said.

"Lazarus Pit? You mean those foul things Ra's al Ghul uses?" Moody asked.

"Yeah. Dumbledore might not have been talking about a literal monster. Dump a recently deceased person into one of those, and they come back out alive. Of course, they're also insane to boot for a time. If it was a Pit, he might have put someone into it, and that someone came out insane." His eyes widened, and he looked over at Moody. "Do you think he could have put Lily in?"

"The _Prophet_ mentioned a specific spell used on her. No…I reckon Dumbledore tried to resurrect James Potter if that was a Lazarus Pit he had me destroy. James Potter was wholly under Dumbledore's thumb, I know that much. If Dumbledore could have resurrected him, then that meant he would have James and Harry under his control, in theory. Lily, he would have let die, but she was a Plant Elemental, and the Green have been known to exact retribution for the murder of Plant Elementals. Assuming that the _Prophet_ is telling the truth, anyway."

"But…assuming you're right, Mad-Eye, and Dumbledore put James Potter into a Lazarus Pit…why haven't we heard anything about James Potter since?"

"Maybe we have," Moody said. "Maybe just not under the name of James Potter."

* * *

Constantine and Moody opted to leave Kovurt Alley shortly afterwards. They had decided to team up, albeit reluctantly, pool resources. Neither trusted the other much, but there was just enough trust to ensure a reluctant cooperation. But as they made to move off, they heard a braying cackle that, to Constantine, was too-familiar. "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" jeered a voice from behind them.

 _Oh God, not_ _ **him**_ , Constantine thought as he whirled, with Moody doing the same thing, to face the familiar, lanky form of the Joker. Bone-white skin, green hair, ruby-red lips perpetually in a malicious grin, purple suit. _How the fuck did he get out of Arkham this time? Oh, who am I kidding? He's turned escaping Arkham into an artform_. Then again, he had never met the Joker before, and he wasn't sure whether the Joker knew him well enough to call him by name.

And then, the Joker then said something that had Constantine freeze up inside in shock.

"How's it hangin', Mad-Eye? Still looking like something the cat dragged in and pissed all over! You're losing more bits!"

"We've never met before, and if I had my way, we never would have," Moody snarled, before flinging curses at the Joker.

The Joker merely danced out of the way, before with a _crack!_ , he disappeared, and reappeared behind Moody. Constantine's eyes widened as the Joker sent Moody sprawling to the ground with a vicious kick. The Joker could Apparate! But he wasn't magical, was he?

The very thought of the Joker with magic sent chills down Constantine's spine. He hadn't been quite this scared for quite a while. Even so, as the Joker turned his attention to him next, Constantine slugged the criminal clown across the face, sending him to the ground.

"Ah, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny," the Joker said with a chiding tone. "The Hat put you into Slytherin, and yet, here you are, brawling with me like a Muggle."

Constantine blinked. The Joker knew he had been in Slytherin? But that pause was all the Joker needed, before he used a Body Bind on both of them. He then snatched Mad-Eye's cane away. "You know, I'd love to kill the both of you…but I need you two to deliver a message to Bats and the old goat. So I'll just go a little _Clockwork Orange_ on your worthless hides first. And I'm going to keep your cane, Mad-Eye. Then, I'm going to have to pay a little visit to a certain riddle-obsessed moron. See a man about a dog. Well, a bitch."

"Who the hell are you?" Constantine demanded.

"Who am I? Oh, Johnny, have the years changed me that much?" the Joker said. "Actually, don't answer that. They have. I forgot who I really was until recently. But you remember who set you up for being expelled for that curse, right?"

Constantine's eyes widened in recollection, and realisation. "But…you can't be! You bastard, you…!"

"Oh, shut up!" the Joker said, before kicking Constantine in the stomach. As he gagged, the Joker sneered, "I'd gladly kill you, but I want the world to know that not only is Joker free, but he remembers _everything_ …"

* * *

Selina was the nearest to the phone when it rang at Ivy's hideout. Ivy was currently helping to train Harry in his abilities at the moment after his near-miss with the Death Eaters, and his encounter with Raven. Given that Raven had claimed that the Batman was going to contact them, she wondered if this was him. "Hello?" she asked as she picked up the phone.

Then, a familiar, hateful voice came on the phone. " _Hello, little pussycat. Don't you dare hang up the phone, or I'll be giving Eddie here a dose of Happy Gas. He's looking a mite too serious at the moment. Bring the weed to the phone._ "

"Joker," Selina hissed. She took the phone with her, before going to find Ivy. "She's busy."

" _She'd better make time for me!_ " the Joker snapped.

She got into the garden area, where Ivy was sitting next to Harry, surrounded by gently moving plants. Ivy's eyes snapped open as Selina entered, her eyes glowing gently. "Selina?" she asked, her voice warping and flanging slightly.

"Ivy…the clown wants to talk to you. I don't think he's going to take no for an answer."

Ivy scoffed, before she said to Harry, "Continue our exercises." She then walked over, and snatched the phone from Selina, accidentally activating the speakerphone as she did so. "What do you want, clown?"

" _I want many things, Lily. But at this moment, I will settle for your head, and that of Harley_ ," the Joker snarled.

Ivy paused, before she said, "How do you know that name?"

" _Because I remembered your face. Mine, sadly, was warped beyond recognition, thanks to the tainted Lazarus Pit the old goat dumped me in. After you used me as a meatshield to protect Harry._ "

Selina saw Ivy pale. "You can't be. You can't be him, he is dead! _James Potter is dead!_ "

" _Since when has that ever bothered me?!_ " the Joker snarled. " _After all, I solemnly swear I am up to no good. And you, Lily, will pay for what you did…_ "

 **CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **I know, I know. A lot of you are up in arms because I've turned James Potter into the Joker. It only really occurred to me to do so partway through writing Chapter 6, and I've been laying the groundwork since. Ironically, a guest reviewer actually said on one of the reviews for Chapter 6 about James Potter being the Joker. I'll say it here and now that I actually had the idea before I read that review. Whoever you are, Guest, I hope you liked this twist.**

 **Now, a lot of you are wondering, I'd bet, why make James Potter the Joker? I mean, beyond bashing him to the extreme? Well, once you take that away, there's a sound, logical link between James Potter and the Joker. Potter, after all, is an unrepentant prankster, which ties in to the Joker's own love of lethal jokes and pranks. And it'd also explain how the Joker managed to survive situations where it seemed he was going to die, but didn't. His magic managed to allow him to Apparate to safety. However, his magic hasn't been fully usable by him for some time, something we will explain in a later chapter.**

 **If any of my readers don't like this, then please, do not fill my reviews for this story with flames. If you don't like the way I am writing this story, then leave. I have plenty of favourites and alerts for this story, showing how popular it really is. I write stories on my own terms, and not yours. This is NOT a collaboration.**

 **Review-answering time! As my reviews are mostly full of people either lamenting or anticipating my turning James Potter into the Joker, there's only one I'm going to answer.** **Kieran** **: I only learned of Tefe Holland relatively recently, while researching the Green for this fic. So, sorry, she isn't going to be making an appearance any time soon. I may allude to her, though.**

 **No numbered annotations.**


	11. Chapter 10: Sins of the Father

**CHAPTER 10:**

 **SINS OF THE FATHER**

"So, lemme get this straight," Harley was saying. "Puddin' claimed to be your husband?"

"Yes. I wouldn't have believed it, but when he said tainted Lazarus Pit and the old goat in one sentence…" Ivy ran a hand through her red hair, unusually agitated. "We are in trouble."

"But if James has regained his memories, isn't that a good thing?" Sirius asked. They were all gathered in the cafeteria of the garden centre, even Harry, who looked shell-shocked at the news his father was still alive…and was the Joker.

"I doubt it," Selina said. "He didn't sound that different from usual. Well, the Joker changes his personality a lot, but he sounded like he did at his most vicious. Take it from someone who's had the misfortune of meeting him several times."

"It makes sense that Dumbledore would've tried to revive him if he had access to a Lazarus Pit," Remus mused. "James was the Golden Boy of the Light. But I thought, from what I knew of Lazarus Pits, that it only caused temporary insanity. But the Joker is very much insane. And he doesn't look that much like James."

"The clown claimed that it was a tainted Lazarus Pit, remember? And given that his body was filled with my pheromones, and used in that ritual to shield Harry…well, Merlin knows what could have happened."

"It makes sense, though," Sirius said. "I mean, all those pranks and jokes? It's like the Marauders taken up to eleven. The nearest I came to that level of lethality was when I nearly set Moony on Snape."

"And you're lucky James got cold feet," Ivy snapped. "I'm hoping he did it for the sake of ensuring Remus didn't get executed, and not to save his own worthless hide. Remus was the only one of you who I liked. I'm glad that you're treating my son well, Sirius, because I haven't forgotten how you acted."

"We're getting off the point," Hermione said. "Even if the Joker isn't James Potter, he's threatened you. And the GCPD wouldn't do anything to stop it, would they?"

"Gordon and some of the better cops would," Selina said. "But many wouldn't care if the Joker killed Ivy, or the other way around, as long as no innocent bystanders got hurt."

"The word 'innocent' is a bit odd when applied to Gotham, isn't it?" Tonks asked.

As Harry stared at the table, looking somewhat lost, he heard his mother speak to him, soothingly, through the Green. _Harry, I know this is a shock for you. It's certainly a shock for me. As bad as James was, I would never have believed in a million years he could have become the Joker._

 _Is it all right to be scared?_

 _Harry, this is the_ _ **Joker**_ _we're talking about. Fear is an understandable response. I will do my utmost to make sure he won't hurt you. In any case, he's after me and Harley. He didn't say anything about you, so he may not know you're in Gotham with me. Yet, anyway._

 _But if he finds out? What will he do to me?_

 _Well…look at Harley. Look at how she ended up. Even now, I'm still trying to put her back together. And the thing is about the Joker is that he's unpredictable. He might try to shape you into his own image…or he might beat the shit out of you and then blow you up. He certainly did that to one of Batman's sidekicks. Speaking of which…I'll need to send a message to him. The Batman, I mean. If Raven is working with him, then I'll have to warn them what is coming_ …

* * *

Bruce Wayne had woken up to find that Rachel and Constantine had gone into the city without him. They had also come back, Rachel more unscathed than Constantine, who was nursing more than a few bruises. The worst of his injuries had been healed by Mad-Eye.

"This is all we need," Bruce said grimly as he did his daily exercises, doing pull-ups from a bar. "Not only is Ivy possibly Lily Potter, or rather, Lily Evans, but the Joker is James Potter, and he now has access to magic. Raven, what is your assessment of Harry Potter?"

"Although he got ambushed easily enough, he used his powers to restrain one of the wizards attacking him," Rachel said. "Considering he may only have recently obtained the use of such powers, it is fairly impressive."

"I meant character rather than ability," Bruce said. "You are an empath."

"…He is not like Ivy, if that's what you fear," Rachel said. "He was somewhat tactless, and when he heard about my parentage, he hugged me. If he used his pheromones to manipulate me, he did so subtly. There was confusion and anger and darkness within his soul, but there's still a flame of righteousness. If anything, I think Ivy will be changed by him more than the reverse."

Tim, who was doing his own exercises, smirked at Rachel. "Are you getting a crush on him, Rachel?"

"A crush would imply your particular brand of adolescent impulses, Tim," Rachel snarked. "He's interesting and has empathy towards my plight."

"Oh, and I don't?" Tim asked in mock hurt. The third Robin didn't actually have a thing for Rachel: they were purely friends.

"Spare me," Rachel retorted.

Constantine, as he clutched his side, winced. "Yeah, I didn't get the crap beaten out of me by the Joker just to listen to teen talk. The Joker has magic. It couldn't be any worse unless he got his hands on a WMD. What's more, he remembers he was James Potter, and I don't think that's a good thing. Mad-Eye's promised to help. He may be working on Dumbledore's orders, but even he can see something's very wrong with the old man at the moment. And if Lucius Malfoy was able to try and attack Harry with impunity, well, Voldemort must want to get a hold of Harry, and I mean more than he usually does. He probably wouldn't care about retribution from the Green. He was apparently obsessed with immortality."

"Like Ra's al Ghul," Bruce said.

"Yeah, but I think Voldemort wants to avoid being reliant on the Lazarus Pits. Dunno what he did instead, but it can't be good."

"And in other news, the ocean is wet," Rachel snarked. "What do we do about Ivy?"

"We contact her," Bruce said. "Nygma should have her number, so…" But he was cut off when a most extraordinary figure phased into the training room. It looked like the ghostly outline of a beautiful young woman created from silvery mist, but with foliage for hair, and with vines wrapped around her limbs.

"A Patronus…" Rachel murmured. "But of a Dryad. They're usually of animals, not magical beings."

The woman stopped in front of Bruce, and then spoke in Ivy's voice, albeit with a British accent. " _This is a message for the Batman._ "

"Then speak," Bruce said.

"You can't talk to it," Constantine said. "It's meant for delivering messages and repelling Dementors. It's not like a phone."

The Patronus chuckled. " _Normally, you'd be correct, John. But I can speak through my Patronus because it is infused with a little of the Green. I admit, I was as surprised as you are when I learned that. I was surprised I was even able to cast a Patronus. After all, if one who has fallen too far into the darkness tried to cast them, they are eaten alive by maggots. I can also see through its eyes. Then again, I had an idea of who the Batman was, when I remembered who I am. It was quite simple when you think about it. The resources needed for your gadgets, the trigger to walk the path of a vigilante, the façade distracting from the true face. It was a good guess, to be honest, but one that's panned out._ "

Bruce stopped his exercises, before glaring at the Patronus. "And what will you do with such information?"

" _Nothing. It merely puts what you do into a new perspective. I have no interest in blackmailing you, Bruce Wayne, nor do I have any intention of telling anyone who might want to do so. In any case, that is not what I came here to say. The Joker is loose from Arkham Asylum. Worse, I know who he is._ "

"I know, I had a close encounter with James earlier," Constantine said, grimacing. "He beat me and Mad-Eye up, Lily. Bastard got the drop on me. He's gunning for you and Quinn, but I don't think he knows Harry is with you. I mean, he IS with you, isn't he?"

" _Yes._ " Ivy's Patronus looked at Bruce. " _I am proposing a temporary ceasefire at the very least, and an alliance at best. Between the Joker having magic, and two different magic factions gunning for my son and I, our vendetta will only get in the way._ "

Bruce glared at the Patronus. "How do I know you won't renege on the deal?"

" _You don't. However, the Joker has threatened the life of myself and Harley. At the moment, that, and my child's safety from Voldemort and Dumbledore, take priority. I can even offer…incentives._ "

"Like what?"

" _You may not have noticed, but I have hidden my current hideout using a spell called the Fidelius Charm. If I use that on you, nobody will be able to figure out that Bruce Wayne is the Batman, especially if I make you the Secret Keeper, unless you tell them. Unless John here, or Raven knows that spell._ "

"That isn't my realm of expertise," Rachel said.

"Ditto," John concurred.

" _Another incentive is that I want to keep my son safe. You know as well as I do that the life I live is not the best of them, and he has only just learned of his true nature. If he chooses to part ways with me, I want your help in bringing him to be trained, by you or one of your friends on the so-called Justice League._ "

"And I might be bringing in your mole," Bruce said.

" _That's the risk you take if you agree, though it may be that my son agrees to help with my crusade. It is his choice. I know you think that laughable, given how I've controlled people before, but he is my child. If you wish to negotiate, come to Kovurt Alley tonight. Has John told you where it is yet, and how to access it?_ "

Bruce scowled. He remembered Zatanna telling him where Kovurt Alley was, and he hadn't been happy to learn where it was situated. Or how one would access it. "Yes."

" _Good._ " She gave a time and a place, before the Patronus said, " _Oh, and come in costume, along with your help. That way, if things do go sour_ …" She left it up in the air as the Patronus dissipated.

"Won't you come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly," Tim muttered.

"She's trying to give the appearance of neutral ground at least," John said. "Are you going to go anyway?"

"Yes, but not without taking precautions," Bruce said. "Ivy's being too reasonable. Either she's luring us into a trap, or her re-emerging memories as Lily Evans are affecting her more than we'd thought. And the offer of training her son…that too could be a trap, allowing him to be her mole within the Teen Titans or the Justice League. Or it could be an opportunity."

"I would suggest the latter," Rachel said. "I'd have to actively read him to be sure, but what little I felt of his emotions when we met suggested that there was no deceit or control. Ivy may manipulate his emotions, but I think she is refraining from using her pheromones."

"Go deeper next time you meet. I want to be sure of it," Bruce said. "I also want you to try and do the same to Ivy."

"That may be a problem," Rachel admitted. "I would have to be careful: given that they are Plant Elementals, their connection with the Green may make any kind of mind-reading dangerous. When Woodrue connected to the Green and went on a rampage, I found the Green rather too…alien to connect to."

"In any case, they're asking to join forces against common foes," Constantine said. "In my experience, they tend to leave the backstabbing until they're pretty damned sure their other enemies have been defeated. I'd be more worried about Ivy using something like the Imperius. And even that pales in comparison to the Joker using the same spell. You'd probably be able to shake off the Imperius Curse, Bruce, given your ability to shake off Ivy's own control, but it's still tricky. And given that magic's one of the few things the big, blue Boy Scout's vulnerable to…"

"Clark's going to be apprised of the situation by Zatanna," Bruce said. "He's still working in Metropolis, cleaning up Luthor's latest mess."

"Yeah, well, the Dark Wanker's got a low opinion of Muggles, and he'd view people like Clark as a Muggleborn at best. His focus'll probably be on taking on Harry, especially now that he knows Harry's in Gotham, so it's less likely he will use Superman as a proxy. Voldemort thinks he's hot shit, and would probably send his followers in. In fact, I'd put money on him breaking his old followers out of Azkaban sooner rather than later. I reckon most of the action is gonna be local. We can't discount that old goat Dumbledore, though. He'll doubtless contact the local magical authorities, and want Harry and/or Ivy brought to him," Constantine mused. "He may have already done so. So when we meet Ivy, we might have to face Aurors."

"Any other cheerful thoughts you want to share?" Tim asked.

"Oh, plenty," Constantine said with a sardonic grin. "But I thought you had enough of my particular brand of cheer…"

 **CHAPTER 10 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Sorry about the wait. So, here you have it. Ivy knows Batman's identity (she used some logic to work it out), and Batman, understandably, is wary. Now, in case you're wondering why none of Batman's magical allies have used the Fidelius to protect his identity, it's simply because they don't know the spell. They know of it, but Zatanna and Raven both use very different magic, and Constantine hasn't come across the actual spell/ritual.**

 **Harry will eventually join either a new incarnation of the Teen Titans, or the Outsiders. Still deciding. It'll be alongside Raven, though, whatever he ends up in.**

 **Review-answering time! To those who enjoyed the plot twist, thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story. To those who complained, the door is there, don't let it hit your collective arses on the way out. I am the author of this work, not you. I don't know why I have to keep reiterating this, save for the fact that you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that you are in charge of this story.**

 **Danget the critic** **: While I'm more familiar with the cinematic Jokers played by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger (and I will be taking elements from them), I was modelling the Joker of this story on the version from the Arkham games, so it's hardly any wonder you can hear Mark Hamill as you read this, like it or not.**

 **fanficfanatic88** **: Ah, yes, good point. I didn't really think of that, but how Joker lost his memories as James Potter is different to how Lily lost her own. Once Lily regained her memories, the traits that were Lily came back to the fore. Joker's memories only came back by accident, however, and he's distanced himself from his past as James (save for where Lily/Ivy is concerned), whereas Lily embraces her past. If that makes enough sense. I'm just scrambling here to cover up a mistake. :S**

 **StatixFireyRage** **: As mentioned above, I am basing the Joker on Hamill's performance, but from the Arkham games. I'm not as familiar with the DCU version admittedly. And yes, I like to think of Moody as not drinking the Kool-Aid (a phrase I use in the next chapter, actually). One of my favourite stories is** ** _Saying No_** **by Bobmin356, and he's the only member of the Order of the Phoenix who actually understands what Harry is going through initially in that story. I think of Moody as being loyal to Dumbledore's (public) ideals, but being far more pragmatic, and trusting nobody, not even Dumbledore.**

 **Kieran** **: I actually had mentioned the current Robin. In an earlier chapter, I mentioned Tim Drake as a comrade of Raven's in the Teen Titans, and, of course, he appears in this chapter. And I actually considered shipping Harry with Cassandra Cain, until I decided firmly on Raven.**

 **Sokat** **: I make up a lot of my stories as I go along with a basic plot. My writing style is based a lot on spontaneity. This one, admittedly, is more so than most: I didn't come up with the whole Joker=James Potter idea until a few chapters in. Anyway, comics are known for ridiculous and improvised storylines. This story is basically about changing things around a little where the Potterverse and the DC universe have some common ground, and watching the fireworks explode. The plot is basically Harry discovering he doesn't know enough about his parents or Dumbledore. It may not be much of a plot, but this story is fast becoming one of my most popular, so, as the motto of Lord Vetinari goes,** ** _Si non confectus, non reficiat_** **.**

 **AsuravartintheCreatorDestroyer** **: I don't think Harry would do something like point the Joker in the general direction of the Order, but there may be a battle between father and son.**

 **bluestorm28** **: Are you kidding me? The Joker and Harry's reunion will be fractious.**

 **BadLuckRabbit** **: Well, your idea is an interesting one. I don't intend for that to actually happen, but I think it'd be a good idea to have Joker** ** _attempt_** **to do it. If I do do that in the story, I'll acknowledge you.**

 **mizzrazz72** **: This is someone who has gone toe-to-toe with Superman. He is NOT going to stay in the cave. He's the Goddamned Batman, after all.**

 **No numbered annotations.**


	12. Chapter 11: Troubles and Divided

**CHAPTER 11:**

 **TROUBLES AND DIVIDED LOYALTIES**

There's a saying in Japan: It's darkest at the base of a lighthouse. Normally, this applies to information rather than morality. But it certainly applied to one Albus Dumbledore. The leader of the Light was actually heavily steeped in darkness.

Why is that? The truth was, he believed his way was the sole way, that he needed control of Magical Britain. Not through overt conquest like his former lover Grindlewald or his former student Tom Riddle. No, he did so through influence, politicking, in a way any Slytherin would have been proud of. Well, except they were jealous that he, a Gryffindor, was so much better at it than he was.

Dumbledore had come to believe that only he knew what was right and what was wrong. And in his self-delusion, he set himself up as god over the Wizarding World, mentally speaking. Arbiter of morality and standards, blind to his own flaws, and willing to exploit those in others.

And yet, here he was, with a house of cards falling apart around him. Or rather, the spinning plates wobbling alarmingly. Yes, that was a better metaphor. Even Dumbledore hadn't remembered who he had turned Lily Evans into, what name he had given her. As long as she stayed in the United States, it was irrelevant. He didn't even make the connection between Pamela Isley and Poison Ivy.

It was a grave oversight, he realised in retrospect. He should have found a way to send her to Azkaban instead. That way, the Green's retribution would have fallen on the Dementors, and not him. Instead, he decided to let her live, cruelly unable to remember her son. A son who had been shaped into becoming a weapon against Voldemort, and, should he survive, he would be Dumbledore's pawn for the rest of his life. A pawn who could use his powers as a Plant Elemental to keep Magical Britain the way it should be. Now and forever. Someone who could sway anyone and everyone to the right point of view. Well, Dumbledore's point of view, with which that was synonymous.

And now, people were beginning to question him, more than ever. True, he put on the doddery old man act to distract people from his past and present actions. But first, Fudge and Umbridge begin a smear campaign, making him out as senile out of fear that Dumbledore would usurp Fudge (really, why would Dumbledore want as highly-visible an office as the Minister of Magic? At least his other offices allowed him to smokescreen his activities, and losing them, or at least Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock, wasn't so vital), and now, Umbridge had managed to launch a major offensive.

Whether thought to be senile or else a Machiavellian mastermind, Dumbledore's support base was beginning to crumble. In order to shore it up, he needed to get Harry back, and under his control. Which was why he was currently in the headquarters of the DMLE that, nominally, concerned itself with Gotham.

The head of that department, Darius Stone, shook his head as he paced his office in front of Dumbledore. "I don't want to get involved in Gotham City. There are cities in the States we are basically told not to interfere with. Mostly Metropolis, Gotham, Central City, Jump City, Bludhaven…if superheroes operate in a big way there, then we don't interfere. Not unless it's in our jurisdiction. We usually deal with Zatanna Zatara of the Justice League."

"Even if it is to retrieve Harry Potter from a criminal?" Dumbledore asked.

"Your best bet will be contacting the Justice League yourself, Professor. There, you can make contact with the Batman. He may be a Muggle, but he's a bloody impressive one. But you'd better make sure you have no dirty laundry to air. He knows how to find it. This is a guy Ra's al Ghul respects, and you know how hard he is to impress."

Dumbledore conceded that point grudgingly. Ra's al Ghul had been one of his alchemy tutors after Hogwarts (despite being a Muggle, Ra's al Ghul was a gifted alchemist), but the infamous Demon's Head had a rather haughty attitude towards Dumbledore, and had refused to tell him the secrets of the Lazarus Pit. Maybe that's why his attempt to revive James went wrong.

"I would prefer that this be handled through our channels," Dumbledore said. He did not want to get the Justice League involved. Frankly, it was none of their damned business. "Harry will be safer in Britain under my protection, and certainly not with Ivy."

Stone snorted. "I've had people go up against Ivy before. Even when prepared for those damned pheromones of hers, they came out second best. Even the bloody Muggle police have better luck with her. If you want to get Potter back to Britain, you're welcome to do it yourself. We'll handle any Death Eater activity, that's definitely our jurisdiction. But don't do anything stupid or illegal. The way I hear it, Fudge is looking for an excuse to replace you as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Don't give him one."

Dumbledore suppressed a scowl with some small difficulty, instead assuming a disappointed grandfatherly look. Still, it meant that the American Aurors were willing to let him do what he needed to. Now, he needed a plan…

* * *

Plans were never Harley Quinn's strong point. She was a doer, acting on impulse. Planning was the specialty of the Joker or of Ivy.

It didn't mean she was dumb. Harleen Quinzel had gotten her doctorate through blood, sweat and tears. And sometimes, that intelligence shone through the childish, crazy personality she had adopted.

But now, she found herself torn between two lovers. Well, she had been before, but now, it was getting personal. More so than usual. After all, Ivy and Joker turned out to be exes, and getting caught in the middle of what was probably one of the most acrimonious marital disputes in the history of the world was not what Harley Quinn wanted. Oh, she liked causing chaos and misery, true, but being caught in the middle of it, between one love and another, was another matter entirely.

Harley also knew that, sooner or later, she would have to choose. And she didn't like it.

Another thing she didn't like was the thought of teaming up with the Batman. The very man who had put her and her lovers away in Arkham, time and time again. And yet, Ivy was willing to ally with him, in order to deal with the Joker.

And yet, if what Ivy and the Joker claimed were true (and it would take more than a birdbath with supposed memories to cinch it to Harley), the Joker had done horrible things to Ivy long before. And while Harley had at best a shaky, if not non-existent moral compass, she nonetheless felt some horror at that being done to Ivy.

Eventually, she made her decision, and went over to the door. As she did so, she heard Ivy's voice ask, "What are you doing?"

Harley looked over at her lover. "I need some air. Red…you know what you're asking me to do? I've gotta choose between you and Puddin'. How can you expect me to choose?"

"I don't," Ivy said. "Joker was a poor specimen of humanity even before we learned he was James Potter. And…"

"So?! I love him, Ivy! Why can't you see that?! And you wanna team up with B-Man?"

"Do you think I like doing it? It's a purely temporary arrangement, Harley," Ivy said. "I want to make sure the people I care about survive this! That means you, Harry, Selina, not to mention Remus! As for the other wizards, well, Hermione's Harry's friend, Tonks is Remus', and Sirius, well, it seems like he's taking his responsibilities seriously for once. Harley, I'm doing this for you. If we're lucky, then my son will have a future! And so will we all! But the Joker's as much a threat to us as Dumbledore and Voldemort. Can't you see that?"

"I dunno what I see anymore," Harley said quietly. Then, after a moment, she said, quietly, "You deserve better than me, Red. You're…you're like a beautiful flower, you know? Sorry, I'm crap at the sappy crap. Must be why Mister J doesn't like it. Red, you've got your son, and all these friends from merry old England…but what have I got besides you? Only Mister J, and the babies, and they got put into a zoo. And, well, I don't wanna work with the B-Man, even if it's only temporary. No…I don't think I can be here anymore."

"Harley…the Joker threatened to kill you. Do you really want to die?"

A retort that he would never do that died on Harley's lips. Then, Ivy said, "Harley…you may love the Joker and me…but which of us actually loves you back? Which of us would die for you?"

"…I don't want you to die for me," Harley said.

"…I don't want you to die, either, for me or for anyone else," Ivy said. "I want you to _live_. You say I deserve better than you, Harley. But I know there's something in you, better than the Joker. That's why I chose you." After a moment, she then added, "Besides, you always wanted a child with the Joker. Harry is the child of both of your lovers."

Harley hadn't thought of it like that. It was true, she badly wanted a child with the Joker. She would have also strongly considered finding a way to have some sort of test-tube child with Ivy. In a way, Harry was the best of both worlds. A child of both Ivy and the Joker.

"But…does he love me? _Can_ he love me?" Harley asked, tentatively, in a voice that, while it had lost little of her childish timbre, had a strangely adult, melancholy air.

"Give it time. Harry will make his own judgement on it. You're more of a heist and assault person than a murderer, anyway. Well, you've been an accomplice to them, but not an actual murderer, most of the time."

"Yeah, but even the stuff I've done…you've got the excuse that you were missing your memories. I ain't got that excuse," Harley admitted. "I may be nuts, but I ain't stupid, Red."

"So? We have Selina with us. Harry's broken school rules at Hogwarts like you and I break laws. Harley…I won't ask you to go up against the Joker. But I still want you to help protect Harry from anyone who might want to hurt him. That includes the Death Eaters, or Dumbledore. Can I count on you for that, Harley? I trust you with that."

For a moment, Harley's hand, which had been on the door handle, clenched, before she let go of the handle. "Okay, Red," she said quietly. "You win. Just…if you gotta off Pudding…make it quick. For me, pretty please?"

The words were hollow. Harley didn't really mean them, she just said them to make Ivy happy, and Ivy knew it. But Ivy nodded, reluctantly. And Harley knew that Ivy, at least, would kill Joker quickly if Harley asked it, instead of drawing it out.

Besides, at least the Joker had given Harley one undeniably good thing via Ivy. Harry was a good kid. True, he was the sort of goody two-shoes kid Harley would have happily fought if he was in the Teen Titans or something like that, but…well, Harry and been screwed over by some guy in authority. A guy who had messed with Ivy's head. Okay, said old fart had made Mister J who he was, which Harley couldn't really object to, but the fact that he had torn Ivy away from her life and child, and deliberately made the child go through hell to turn him into a weapon…

Harley Quinn would hurt a child, this much was true. But she wouldn't hurt the child of either of her lovers, adopted or otherwise, and of late, she had gained a more maternal edge from her relationship with Ivy. Not much of one, but if Ivy wanted her son protected from these bozos, then by Mister J, she would fucking well do it!

* * *

"Nervous?" Selina asked Harry as he sat in the garden area, Hermione nearby.

"About what?" Harry asked. "My father, the Batman, dealing with Voldemort or Dumbledore?"

Selina chuckled, before she clarified, "I meant about meeting the Batman."

"Not that much. I mean, I'm nervous about what might happen…but he's one of the good guys, right?"

"Yeah. Batman…" Selina paused for a moment, before she said, "Batman's hurt inside. I mean, just about everyone of note in Gotham City, on either side of the law, are damaged goods. He tries to make sure nobody went through what he went through."

"Mum told me who he was, through the Green, shortly after she contacted him through her Patronus," Harry said quietly. "It actually makes a lot of sense."

"Who is he?" Hermione asked. After a brief moment, Harry whispered into her ear, and her eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Oh my God…that does make a lot of sense. I'm definitely not telling Uncle Eddie, though. God knows what he'd do with that info."

"It'll be a moot point," Harry said. "Mum wants to put Batman's identity under the Fidelius so that nobody knows who he is, save for who he tells."

Selina chuckled. "Well, I hope he tells me again. It took him a lot to spill the beans. I was so shocked when he showed me who he was. That wasn't that long ago, really. But you're very like him, Harry."

"The only difference is, I've got my parents still," Harry said.

"You didn't know that until now," Hermione pointed out. "And different people react differently to the same situation. Some grow up normal, others grow up to become bad, and others become, well, like the Batman. Harry…one thing you and Batman have in common is your saving people thing. That's not a bad thing. As long as you still have that, I'm with you all the way. Anyway, I want to make up for not reaching out to you after Cedric died."

Harry chuckled ruefully. "Thanks, Hermione. Shame Ron isn't here."

"He'd want to get you away from Ivy," Hermione pointed out. "Most of the Weasleys drink the Kool-Aid, so to speak, where Dumbledore is concerned."

"Drink the what?"

"She means they buy into Dumbledore's authority," Selina said. "It comes from an incident where a cult known as the People's Temple committed mass suicide by drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide. Kool-Aid is like…a bit like squash? Or cordial? I don't know what you Brits have. It's a flavoured fruit drink. The point is, the Weasleys may not actually be your enemies, but they're misguided. Have I got that right?"

"Yes, Miss Kyle," Hermione said.

"Selina, please. Miss Kyle makes me feel old, or else I'm being served _hors d'oeuvres_ at some ritzy shindig I plan to clean out," Selina said.

Hermione smiled a bit sheepishly. "Sorry, force of habit."

"That's fine. I don't mind you being polite, but I prefer to be called Selina when I'm not being called Catwoman."

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. If she hadn't been so used to her uncle being one of the most infamous criminals in Gotham, she would have found the situation more surreal, more unbelievable. Her best friend was the son of Poison Ivy and the Joker, she was talking to Catwoman, she was soon going to meet the Batman…it sounded like some badly written story by some hack writer. Of course, the difference between fiction and reality was that fiction had to make sense.

Of course, this being reality meant that this was in _very_ deadly earnest. And Hermione knew that whatever had happened were mere fleabitings compared to what was to come…

 **CHAPTER 11 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Well, that just happened. I very nearly had Harley leaving, but then, I wasn't sure about what to do. I eventually had her resolve (to a degree, anyway) her conflicted loyalties by having Ivy point out that Harry is the child of both her lovers. Even so, her loyalties when the Joker makes an appearance may yet be divided.**

 **BTW, this chapter may be the last one for a while. I've only got vague notions where the story is going to go next.**

 **Review-answering time!** **DZ2** **: Thanks for reviewing me. I've enjoyed some of your work. But I had Mark Hamill in mind while writing this version of the Joker, specifically the Arkhamverse Joker.**

 **bub23453** **: I don't know, but Superman, given his vulnerability to magic, might be affected by those spells. I have no plans bringing him in as of yet, though.**

 **Bob** **: I know this: whitetigerwolf did a oneshot. AFAIK, though, I'm the first to develop it into a longer fic.**

 **Neo-Devil** **: Yes, I know Kefka Palazzo. I have played** ** _Final Fantasy VI_** **. I even have a couple of fanfics.**

 **No numbered annotations.**


	13. Chapter 12: An Unlikely Alliance

**CHAPTER 12:**

 **AN UNLIKELY ALLIANCE**

It was almost like one of those dodgy deals in warehouses that people like her and her allies liked to disrupt, Rachel reflected. Only, it was a warehouse in Kovurt Alley, and the deal was more to do with a ceasefire, if not an alliance. Batman, Constantine, and Robin were all in position, as she was, ready for any conflict that might break out. Given the people involved, that was a distinct possibility.

This was a surreal experience, not that she had any lack of experience with those. About to make a possible alliance with Poison Ivy, of all people. As a precaution, Batman gave them pills that helped suppress the effects of Poison Ivy's pheromones. Technically, it wouldn't work on Rachel, given her gender and sexual preferences, but there was no guarantee that Harry hadn't learned how to use them himself, so it was a precaution based on Batman's admittedly justified paranoia.

While she was waiting, Rachel was meditating, as was her wont to do. _Azarath Metrion Zinthos_ , she quietly intoned to herself. Her emotional control was much better now, in that she could allow her emotions more free rein before her powers started to act up. But it helped to meditate and use the mantra every now and then.

After what seemed like hours of this, he heard Robin say quietly, "Raven? They're here."

Rachel sighed, unfurling herself from the lotus position she was meditating in. She found herself scrutinising the people in front of her, a larger crowd than she expected.

Harry, she had already met, and while she hadn't actually met two of the Gotham City Sirens before, she knew of them by reputation, and had seen pictures and video. She realised that Ivy seemed subtly different. Both warmer, and yet still very dangerous, just from body language. What Rachel could sense of her emotions (what wasn't being obscured by the Green, anyway) seemed to suggest this too. Raven had met Ivy once before, and the difference, though subtle, was still noticeable, even leaving aside the British accent.

The other four included what had to be an Animagus, a man currently hiding as a dog, a rather threadbare-looking man who seemed to be a werewolf, a young woman with bubblegum pink hair, and a teenaged girl with bushy brown hair. Rachel eventually said, "Who is masquerading as the dog?"

It was Harry who spoke up. "My godfather. He was framed for betraying my parents and murdering those people."

"Sirius Black?" Constantine snorted. "Figures you'd be an Animagus as a mangy dog. How does it feel knowing James is the Joker?"

Sirius appeared, scowling. "Stop grinning like that, Constantine."

"Why? You bastards had me expelled from Hogwarts. And quite frankly…"

"Enough," Batman said. "We are not here to discuss schoolyard squabbling that should have been resolved long ago. We are here because of threats to Gotham, threats related to you, Ivy, and to your son. I already know something about the threat of Voldemort, and the thought of the Joker with magic is appalling. However, you claim Albus Dumbledore to be a threat as well. You have my attention, Ivy. Why should I consider Dumbledore a threat?"

"Leaving aside the fact that, as one of the most powerful wizards of our time, you'd consider him a threat by default?" Ivy asked. "I heard from Selina that you even consider Superman a threat, even if only a potential one."

After a moment, Batman nodded, conceding the point. Rachel knew that Batman had paranoid tendencies that included even his allies. He trusted them, true, but he also knew there were means of them being able to be turned against him. "But there's obviously more than that."

"Of course. Dumbledore cloaks himself in the light, claiming to be a paragon of all that is good in our world," Ivy said. "In truth, he is a master manipulator, focused on his own private definition of morality. He wished to turn my son into his own little weapon, forced me to be a broodmare to a vile man I didn't want to be with. Of course, any alliance with you is temporary, you and I both know that. We have come too far and fought too much to be anything but enemies."

"Even with your memories back, Lily?" Constantine asked.

"I may have become less belligerent, true, but make no mistake. As a Plant Elemental, it is my duty to safeguard plants. I will do what I think is necessary to do so. Even if I did repent, my past crimes would see me in Arkham for the term of my natural life, and considering that most of my victims were corporate toe-rags and their enablers, I find myself not bothered enough to repent for them anyway," Ivy said. "But…whether my son follows me down this road is another matter. That is one of the reasons I wanted this meeting, for you to get some of the measure of him. Harry is as much a do-gooder as your little helpers, or the Teen Titans. If he wishes to, I would like your help in bringing him into the Titans."

Rachel thought that surprising, to say the least. She let nothing show, but she found herself examining Harry a bit more. There was certainly something earnest enough in him to possibly warrant that.

After a moment, Batman said, "I will take that under consideration."

* * *

Harry almost scoffed at the tone of the Batman. He had to admit, the Batman was actually quite impressive in person. It wasn't just the dark costume, which was admittedly intimidating when it should have been ridiculous (a man dressing as a bat, intimidating?). Rather, it was the posture and the tone of the man. He had heard Bruce Wayne speak on TV before, but this sounded nothing like Bruce Wayne. And this was partially due to the way he made his voice a belligerent growl most of the time. He made himself a monolithic figure, primal and scary.

His eyes wandered over the others. Robin was about his age, with dark hair, dressed in a red and green battlesuit not unlike the Batman's, only less armoured in some areas, presumably to allow Robin freedom of movement. He also seemed more welcoming than Batman.

Constantine looked very out of place, tall, thin, blonde, handsome face marred by stubble, dressed in a rather shabby trenchcoat. His eyes were a bit like Dumbledore's, twinkling with mirth and marred by sadness…only Harry saw regret, he realised. Constantine was also smoking, the pungent smell of tobacco wafting around the area.

And finally, the Raven. She had her hood up, concealing most of her face, her eyes glinting from the shadows beneath it. Given what he had learned about her since then, he realised he could sense a weight on her shoulders.

"I think we should give a higher priority to the Joker and to Voldemort's goons," Constantine opined, dropping his cigarette and stamping on it to extinguish it. "Dumbledore is dangerous, but there's only so much he can do without tainting his image, and his position's precarious given the Ministry's smear campaign back home. But the Joker with magic? Yeah, that's giving me nightmares, and believe me, I've seen a lot of nightmare-worthy stuff in my time. Had to make a deal with Dream for that once(1)."

"Dream?" Harry asked.

"He speaks of Dream of the Endless," the Raven said. "One of the seven entities, older than almost every god. Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Destruction, and Delirium. But back to the point: I agree with Constantine. Dumbledore is dangerous, but he is also restricted in his actions by his reputation as a leader of a light faction. The Death Eaters have little such restrictions, and the Joker none at all."

"That's a good point, but that's no reason not to keep an eye out," Hermione mused.

"I can understand why Voldemort would want to come after Harry," Batman said. "He feels humiliated, intending to take revenge, as well as remove a rival, and a symbol to his enemies. But what about Dumbledore? Why exactly is he Harry's enemy?"

"He wishes to control him," Ivy said. "And yes, I know what you're going to say. I've controlled people myself as Ivy, as well as when I was Lily: I controlled James Potter to sacrifice himself to save Harry. I guess you could say that makes me a hypocrite. But everything I have done has been for my children, in Harry and in the Green. Dumbledore, however, wants his own personal power, cloaking it in the creed of the Greater Good. In truth, he believes himself to be the sole arbiter of everything that's good in the Wizarding World, and will do what he can to retain that position. It's possible that he may even use Harry's abilities as a Plant Elemental to maintain control over Magical Britain."

"He's an old man, he won't be able to live forever," Constantine pointed out.

"There are ways and means," Ivy said. "He knew Nicholas Flamel, the man who created the Philosopher's Stone, and may very well have lied to Harry about destroying it, as I saw in his memories. He would have to fake his demise, and turn up under another name and appearance, but the Stone could give him immortality. And there are other ways: I doubt Dumbledore would be so desperate as to create a Horcrux, but…Joker mentioned a Lazarus Pit."

"Yeah, Mad-Eye told me. Apparently Dumbledore tried to revive James Potter in a tainted Lazarus Pit near Hogwarts, and it's possible that Dumbledore intended to use them or something similar to become immortal," Constantine said. "Anyway, Dumbledore and the Death Eaters have a reason to come after Harry. What about the Joker? Does he know?"

"He'll know before long," Ivy said. "No doubt he'll try to reclaim him. And…I'm frightened of that. Why else would I consider an alliance with you at all?"

"Because you've just found out you're a mother, and you don't want to lose Harry again," Robin said.

Ivy nodded. Batman, meanwhile said, "Of course, you could be setting us against the rest of your enemies, so you can weaken them by having us fight each other. The 'let's you and him fight' scenario."

* * *

Across the Marvel universe, almost every superhero sneezed simultaneously.

* * *

"I don't intend to let you fight all of my battles for me, Batman, so your logic, while not wholly unreasonable, fails on that point at least. I'll put it to you bluntly: if the Joker comes across my path, _then I will kill him_. Frankly, it's better than shoving him back into that wet cardboard box they call Arkham Asylum. If that means that you take me back to Arkham, then that is a sacrifice I am willing to make for my son's sake," Ivy said. "The same goes for any Death Eaters."

Constantine shook his head. "You're scary when you're mad, Lily. Always have been. You being Ivy makes too much sense."

Batman folded his arms. After a moment, he said, "While I won't let you kill anyone if I can help it, I will agree to this temporary alliance."

"Good. As a sign of good faith, I will cast the Fidelius Charm on your real name, with you as the Secret Keeper," Ivy said, taking out her wand.

"Wait," Raven said. "Does anyone else in your group know how to cast it?"

"I learned it when the Potters went into hiding," Sirius said, holding up his hand.

Ivy sighed in annoyance. "Very well. Sirius?"

Sirius nodded, and then approached the Batman, his wand out. He carefully cast the spell. It took a couple of minutes, but there was a flare of light…and then, Harry couldn't remember who Batman was anymore.

Batman then said, "This spell…does the secret need to be told by me, or will my showing my face voluntarily count as sharing the secret?"

"I guess that'd work," Constantine said. "It's an old charm. And those who you shared the secret with cannot share it voluntarily, unless you give them permission, from what I've read."

Batman smirked, then removed his cowl briefly, showing the features of Bruce Wayne. He then replaced it. "I wonder how long I can string out the Justice League before revealing the secret? Or Selina? I noticed she isn't here. Holding down the fort, no doubt," he remarked with a smirk. Somewhat more seriously, he then said, "Besides your group here, can we count on anyone else for help against them?"

"The local magical authorities may, but they might be more inclined to arrest me, and give Harry into Dumbledore's custody," Ivy said. "You'd have better luck with Commissioner Gordon."

"What about Uncle Eddie?" Hermione asked. "Can we get his help?"

"Nygma will probably need a more secure lair given that Joker infiltrated his, but if we give him a temporary one, I don't see why not," Ivy said. "We could probably count on some of the others to help: all of them have been attacked by Joker in the past. Penguin, Freeze, Bane…and I seem to recall Scarecrow parting ways with Joker on bad terms. Though Crane's still in Arkham."

"I'll contact Cobblepot," Batman said. "He might know things about the magical underground. And he won't want the Joker disrupting his business."

"Yeah, well, you know Puddin'," Harley said, speaking up for the first time since they came here, having spent most of it in a silence that was both sullen and sad. "He's very much into disruptin'. Shakin' things up."

"Quinn," Raven said quietly. "What do you intend to do about this matter?"

Harley looked uncomfortable, before saying, "Look, the way I see it, Harry's a good kid. He's Puddin's kid, and Ivy's kid. I ain't gonna go outta my way to fight Mister J, but I'll protect Harry. He's a bit too much of a goody two-shoes, but I ain't gonna hold that against him. He's been surprisingly accepting of me, despite me being Mister J's girl."

Maybe it was because Harley had been so accepting of him in the first place, Harry reflected. He knew Harley was an infamous criminal, connected to both the Joker and Poison Ivy, long before he learned who they really were…but meeting her in person was another matter. It wasn't that she was harmless or innocent…rather, he knew now that, buried deep within the madness, there was a decent person. And Harley made him feel welcome.

"Should we contact Ra's al Ghul?" Constantine asked. "Dumbledore did use a Lazarus Pit to revive James Potter after all."

"I'd rather keep him out of it," Batman said. "Bringing Ra's al Ghul into this matter will only complicate what is already a mess. Ivy, I need some means of contacting you. You have ways of contacting me, but not vice versa."

Ivy sighed, before reciting a telephone number. "I think John should have learned how to cast a Patronus. I'm not telling you where our hideout is for the time being. If I need you somewhere in a hurry, I'll either use a Patronus, or hijack one of those Bat-Signal lights."

"Very well. If there's nothing else, we had better get back."

"A moment, Batman," Raven said. "I would like to talk to Harry before I leave."

Batman, after a moment, nodded. Batman and Robin soon left, though Constantine lingered, like his cigarette smoke. "Well, Raven, be careful. If you can't be careful, be safe. And if you can't be safe…" He grinned. "Name it after me(2)."

Raven glared at Constantine. "Say something like that again, and I'll make you have nightmares of Giygas(3) eating your soul for the rest of your life."

Constantine flinched, which considering he had faced down hellspawn and the like, was saying something. "Okay, but don't stay out too late."

"You're not my father. And you're not much of an improvement on him."

"Ouch, I'm wounded. See you later, Raven. See you around, Lily, Remus…and Black." And with that, Constantine slouched off.

"What did you want to talk to my son about, Raven?" Ivy asked, slightly suspiciously, but more concerned than suspicious.

The part-demon girl looked at Ivy, before she said, "I wanted to know how he felt about possibly joining the Titans, and what skills he could bring to us."

"Oh. Then go ahead."

As Raven made to lead Harry to a corner of the warehouse, Hermione stepped forward. "Umm, if there's an invitation for the Titans, can a normal witch make it in?"

"Define normal," Raven snarked. "Robin was probably the most normal of all of us, and he's raised by the Batman. If you've got skills to bring to the table and don't mind fighting against super-powered criminals, that's fine. You remind me a bit of Oracle, actually."

"You've met her?" Hermione asked.

"Oracle used to be Batgirl. However…something bad happened. I won't talk anymore of that. Anyway, let's see what you can bring to the Titans…"

 **CHAPTER 12 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Sorry about the rather dialogue-heavy chapter, but it'd have to be when we're dealing with Batman and Ivy forming an alliance. This may be the last chapter for a while too. I need to decide where to take the plot from here.**

 **That being said, I need to give a shout-out here. DZ2 was not only generous enough to favourite this story (along with** ** _Yin and Yang_** **), but he also gave my story a shout-out in one of his own: namely** ** _Appetite for Power_** **, which, while marked as a pure Harry Potter fic, does have a strong element from** ** _Fairy Tail_** **. It's pretty good so far. He's also given this story a shout-out in** ** _Rise of the Arkham Empire_** **, but that's less to my taste, personally, and he has since removed that story from his profile.**

 **EDIT: I changed things around when I realised, apart from one line of dialogue, Catwoman isn't present here. I guess Ivy had her holding down the fort back at Ivy's hideout. Oops.**

 **Review-answering time! Yes, that was a bit of self-deprecation at the end of the previous chapter.**

 **Ghost the Fox** **: In this story, Harley hasn't been part of the Suicide Squad. So it's just your imagination.**

 **Hybrid13** **: It's Mister, actually. And the pairing for this story will be with Raven. One day, I may yet do a Harry/Poison Ivy story, but a few people are doing that already.**

 **Aeryun** **: Yes, you're right, I love it when you have these notions that just mesh together in the right way. I actually had the idea shortly before one of my reviewers suggested it, but it made a perverse sense. Before that point, James Potter was going to stay dead.**

 **Guest** **: (Regarding the Marauder's motto being chilling) Hoo boy, yes…**

 **Breitve** **: Maybe Joker/James was doing that, but wandlessly, and without realising what he was doing. It'd certainly explain how he'd get henchmen, despite how cruel he is to them…**

 **1\. I'm referring, of course, to the events of** ** _The Sandman_** **, namely Issue 3:** ** _Dream a Little Dream of Me_** **. I love** ** _The Sandman_** **. It's the only DC Comics series I have got any Absolute Editions for.**

 **2\. I took this from Chapter 21 of** ** _Nobody Dies_** **by Gregg Landsman, from Misato's admonishment to Shinji and Asuka.**

 **3\. Okay, you guys should know this, but for those who DON'T know, Giygas was the villain of** ** _Earthbound Beginnings_** **and** ** _Earthbound_** **(aka** ** _Mother_** **and** ** _Mother 2_** **in Japan). In the first game, he was merely a tremendously powerful psychic alien. In the second game…well, that's the form Raven threatened Constantine with.**


	14. Chapter 13: The Joker's Wild

**CHAPTER 13:**

 **THE JOKER'S WILD**

"So, what could you bring to the Titans if you were to join?" Rachel said, looking the two teenaged magic users. "I know Harry has Plant Elemental abilities, but I'm hazier on how much Hogwarts would have taught you. I follow a different magic system, partly due to my heritage and upbringing."

"It's not a magic we can use, is it?" Hermione asked.

"You may be able to learn a few of my abilities, but most of them are unique to me," Rachel said. "Be grateful for that. You wouldn't want some of my abilities."

Harry looked at Hermione, before he said, "I've learned a few spells that aren't on the Hogwarts curriculum. The Patronus, for example. And given how Mum was able to use it to communicate with you guys because of her own Plant Elemental abilities…"

"Normally, we have communicators, and we sometimes have telepaths on our roster," Rachel said. "I should introduce you to Miss Martian sometime. I also heard of some of your exploits in the Tri-Wizard Tournament last year, especially the First Task. Using a broomstick against a dragon is reckless. Then again, you _are_ a Gryffindor."

"Please don't channel Snape," Harry said. "That's creepy coming from you."

"I'm not creepy already?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow beneath her hood.

"Not enough to worry me," Harry said. "Anyway, Hermione's best at research and information gathering, as well as finding solutions to problems. She's no slouch when it comes to fighting if necessary, though." He thought back to Third Year, when she, along with just about everyone else, unleashed a Stunner on Snape in the Shrieking Shack.

"Like Oracle, then. I guess I was on the mark when I said you reminded me of her, Hermione," Rachel said.

"My uncle once said something similar, albeit less flattering," Hermione said. "Then again, he's the Riddler, he's not fond of you guys."

"The feeling's mutual," Rachel snarked. "So, two magic users, one specialising in action, the other in information and solution-finding. Well, I'm sure the Titans will welcome you. Maybe not with open arms initially. After all, you both have connections with Gotham's most infamous criminals. But not all of us have squeaky clean backgrounds." Terra and Rose 'Ravager' Wilson, the latter being the daughter of the infamous Deathstroke, sprang to mind, Rachel thought privately. And there was Rachel's own heritage. "But keep in mind, if you do join us, that being one of the Titans isn't a game. We fight some of the most lethal and dangerous criminals and monsters in the world."

"I've had Voldemort after me since I was a baby," Harry said grimly. "Even if I did see it as a game, it stopped being a game completely when Cedric died."

"Good. Some of us view what we do as a game. I believe that view to be reinforced by the fact that a lucky few of us have come back from the dead, and we're very good at dodging death anyway. But I know that it isn't a game at all. Being the daughter of Trigon has ensured that I know this is no game. Don't get me wrong, it's not all doom and gloom. I'm probably one of the more serious members of the Titans. Well, technically, I'm not with the Titans at the moment, but I intend to rejoin soon."

"Why did you leave?" Hermione asked. Then, she winced. "Sorry, I shouldn't pry."

"No, you shouldn't. But I will tell you anyway. As you may know, I am half-demon on my father's side, and I needed to learn how to control that part of my heritage better. I have to control my emotions to a degree, in case my magic runs rampant…or worse. As in, end of the world worse," Rachel added, noticing the question on Hermione's lips.

Hermione, after a moment, said with considerable understatement, "That must be tough."

"It is. And I'm glad you do not judge me," Rachel said, a small smile of gratitude tinging her lips. "Few humans, whether they have magic or not, are as kind. I believe even a few within the Justice League and associated organisations look askance at me."

"Well, you are not your father, any more than Harry is going to be like his. He may be the son of the Joker and Poison Ivy, but Harry has been one of the most heroic people I have known, and he's never worn a costume. Unless robes for school count. Speaking of which, if we do join the Titans, do we have to wear spandex?"

Rachel scoffed slightly. "Not if you don't want to. Hermione, what about your parents?"

"They're aware of magic, but they're still in England," Hermione said. "All they knew was that I was living with the others in…oh." She paled at some realisation. "They don't know I'm in Gotham. And Dumbledore might be able to use them as leverage, or Voldemort might."

"We'll worry about that later," Harry said. "We'll have Moony make a Portkey or something. I'm more worried about my Dad, the Joker. Merlin, it's weird saying that. All this time, my Dad was alive, and he's a bloody lunatic mass murderer! It's hard enough knowing my Mum's Poison Ivy, and she's shacked up with Harley Quinn." Harry laughed bitterly. "The Dursleys were right. I am a freak."

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard a dry rasping cackle from above. Then, they heard a chilling voice say, "Take it from me, kiddo, there's nothin' wrong with being a freak. _Au contraire_ , to be a freak is to be liberating, unbound from the norms of petty society!" Another rasping chuckle.

Rachel paled, an impressive feat given her grey skin. She knew that voice. "Stick close to me," she hissed. She tapped a button on a communicator on her wrist. Suddenly, it was torn from her wrist, flying into the rafters of the warehouse.

"Naughty, naughty, little crow," came the voice. "Bringing in the Big Bad Bat to spoil the party?"

Ivy and the others came running, before Ivy waved her wand. With a squawk, a purple and green blur flew from the rafters, and smashed into Harley, knocking her down to the ground, and knocking her out, her head making a sickening crack as it hit the concrete floor. "Oh, thank Merlin for that," muttered the Joker as he got up. "It would've gotten awkward with the ex and the latest girlfriend talking at once."

* * *

Harry was rarely this terrified in his entire life. Which was understandable. After all, even without the whole paternity issue, there was the fact that they had the Joker standing right in their midst. The most infamous criminal ever to grace Gotham City, and one of the most lethal and unpredictable.

His lanky form was dressed in elaborate purple and green clothes. His skin was bone white, his hair lawn green, his lips blood red. His mouth was stretched in a malevolent grin that showed more teeth than good cheer. And the eyes danced with delirious malice.

"Hey, kiddo, Prongslet, my darling little crotchspawn," the Joker said. "How's my boy been doing? I didn't even know you were in Gotham, Harry, my boy, but hey, I'll take what I can get." The Joker suddenly dodged to the side to avoid a Body Bind curse from Ivy. "Hey, bitch, I'm trying to talk to my son! I haven't seen him for over ten years!" He dodged another one from Remus. "Oh, Moony, what's your major malfunction?"

"You, being the Joker," Remus said, glaring. "A mass-murdering psychopath. Not to mention you all but raped Lily."

"Moony, Moony, Moony, you can't rape your own wife."

"You used Amortentia to get me!" Ivy snapped.

"All's fair in love and war," the Joker retorted, even as he dodged more spells. "Anyway, I've gone off redheads. Haven't you heard that gentlemen prefer blondes? Of course, so do dyke ecoterrorists with green thumbs. I thought it odd that the Batman, his Boy Blunder, and Johnny would come out of a deserted warehouse in Kovurt Alley, so I decided to come have a looksee. And look what I found! The missus and the ex! Plus a mangy mutt who should have stayed in Azkaban where he belonged, my son, a couple of potential girlfriends, and a nerd with a major silver allergy. How is that lycanthropy coming along, Moony?"

Suddenly, the Joker squawked, fluorescing from positive to negative as he was flung up against a wall, Raven's dark magic pinning him there. "You talk too much," Raven said. "And your jokes aren't even funny."

The Joker sneered at her. "That's because, like the Bat, you have no known sense of humour known to medical science. Then again, at least with you, it's understandable, considering your mommy spread her legs to ol' Trigon the Terrible. Best part of you ran down your mommy's thigh."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "I don't think Batman will appreciate me killing you. Traumatising you, though…"

"Do you worst, bitch," the Joker sneered, only to have his eyes widen when, from beneath the shadows of Raven's cloak, tendrils of pure darkness emerged, whipping out and grabbing him, dragging him towards the shadows of the cloak with a yelp. Which, if Harry was any judge, had somehow grown darker. Raven had even grown taller, and her eyes began to shine red faintly.

" _Poor choice of words, Joker_ ," Raven snarled, her voice gaining a warped reverb. " _What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?!_ "

"Actually, it's having my orifices penetrated by a tentacle monster who is actually a Teen Titan!" the Joker retorted as he was dragged along.

" _Oh don't worry, Joker_ ," Raven hissed. " _Orifices will NOT be involved. I wouldn't be caught dead involved in any intimate activity with the likes of_ _ **you**_ _._ "

"DEPULSIO!" the Joker roared, and that sent Raven, if not flying, then reeling slightly. With his wand, he shot Cutting Curses desperately at the tendrils, which severed, until the Raven snarled, and smacked the wand from his hand, before pinning them to his sides. "Hope that hurt!" he snarled.

" _You took the words right out of my mouth_ ," Raven hissed back, before a familiar bat-like shape of metal whipped down and struck the ground near them.

"Enough, Raven," came the growl of Batman from above. "Keep him under control." The familiar form swooped down from above, before he put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Remember, you are not your father."

Raven calmed herself with an effort, the red fading from her eyes. The tendrils faded, but the Joker was still trapped by her dark magic. And it was then that Harry approached. "Potter, don't…" Batman said, only for Ivy to look the Dark Knight in the eye, and shake her head.

Harry looked down at James Potter…no, the Joker. Eventually, he asked, "Why? Why give my mother Amortentia?"

"Why not?" the Joker asked. "I wanted her, and that was all that mattered."

Harry knelt down next to the Joker, and glared at him. "The Dursleys called my parents worthless freaks who deserved to die. Well…they were half-right. As far as I am concerned, you are not my father." He then spat viciously in the Joker's face.

The Joker cackled. "You can't deny it, Prongslet! Anyway, why do you care about the dyke weed more than me?"

"Because she came back for me…and actually showed she gave a shit," Harry said. "She'd even let me join the Titans, despite her reputation. But you…you'd make me just like you…or kill me trying."

The Joker snorted. "Well, you got that right, kiddo. But the thing is, you're just like me already. All you need is a little push…one bad day."

Harry laughed in the Joker's face. "One bad day? At the Dursleys, I had nothing but bad days! I was their servant, called a freak! And at Hogwarts, I've had to face Voldemort in some form or another at least three times, had Snape being a petty bastard, Dementors making me relive my worst memories, and I saw someone die right in front of me. You didn't have one bad day. You were just rotten already, long before you became the Joker. You're not my father, just a sperm donor."

"Well said," the Batman said, breaking the silence that followed. "You, Joker, are going back to Arkham, and you are going to stay there, magic or not."

"Yeah, don't make promises you can't keep, Bats. With magic, I'm a bigger fly in your ointment than ever before." Then, with a sudden effort, Joker rolled himself along the ground until he was touching a stirring Harley. "Abracadabra, suckers!" And with a crack, he disappeared, along with Harley.

"HARLEY!" Ivy screamed, in dismay and rage. As the echoes of her furious scream died away in the warehouse, those present could feel a veritable change in the atmosphere here. Where there had once been the jagged, lightning-like madness of the Joker, there was now almost a suffocating heat of rage suppressed in its absence. All centred on the red-haired, green skinned woman.

In a too-calm voice, Ivy said, "We're leaving. I am going to get a start on tracking down the Joker. If you want to do so, Batman, then be my guest, but know this: should I find him first…he won't die. Not for a long time, anyway."

"Ivy…" Batman growled warningly, only to be halted when she glared at him.

"Find him if you want him to live long enough to be put into Arkham…though the Phantom Zone would be a better place for one like him. I will not give him such luxury if I find him first." Over the Green, Harry heard her voice, heavy with emotion, say, _Come on, Harry, please. I need to get out of here before I lose my temper with him_.

Harry nodded slightly, and he followed his mother out, along with the surviving Marauders, Tonks, and Hermione. He knew things were going to get even worse before they got better…

* * *

Selina Kyle didn't like housesitting, but someone had to do it, though she was annoyed that they had gone to use the Fidelius on Batman's identity, which meant she wouldn't be able to remember who it was behind the cowl. She sighed, hoping that the Batman would trust her with it again.

So when the others came back, sans Harley, and Ivy looking very angry, she knew something had gone badly wrong. Then, the tears began trickling down her face. "Joker's got Harley," Ivy said simply. "Selina, we need to get onto Cobblepot and Nygma. We need to find out where the Clown is. And we need to contact any of our allies out of Arkham, Freeze, Bane, Dent, anyone who's got a grudge against him. I'm going to find the Joker, and I'm going to put paid to him for once and for all!"

 **CHAPTER 13 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Hell hath no fury like a woman pissed off. And the Joker has done one thing he shouldn't have done. But will Ivy's quest for revenge alienate herself from her allies? Find out next time.**

 **The whole thing with the Joker crashing the warehouse meeting and then abducting Harley was something that really seemed to write itself. As you may have noticed, I based Raven's attack on the Joker on a scene from one of the** ** _Teen Titans_** **episodes, namely** ** _Nevermore_** **, and her attack on Dr Light. Unlike that story, however, Raven's control had only slipped a little, and that was due to Joker provoking her.**

 **Also, I hoped you enjoyed the little conversation between Harry, Hermione and Raven about the nature of heroism.**

 **Review-answering time!** **jeanette9a** **: She'll be straddling the line more in this fic. Ivy is still a major misanthrope, though, but she cares deeply about Harry and his friends. She's regained a moral compass to a degree, but she's still ruthless and more than willing to kill, which will, of course, put her at odds with Batman.**

 **DalkonCledwin** **: I have read Dante's** ** _Inferno_** **, and I am aware of Cocytus being a frozen area. And I know of Death of the Endless, who is mentioned. No, Darius Stone is no relation to Victor, and he is head of the DMLE for the part of the state that includes Gotham, not the whole state or the whole of the US.**

 **diagonalpumpkin** **: Yeah, having Batman have a wry sense of humour at times does give him something beyond his frankly monolithic personality. That's one of the reasons I liked the ending of** ** _The Killing Joke_** **, when Batman actually laughs at one of the Joker's jokes. And** ** _The Sandman_** **is my personal favourite comic series of all time. I might even work in a cameo from one of the Endless, probably Death.**

 **WhiteElfElder** **: James/Joker basically wants revenge on everyone he can, but Ivy's the priority. He wants to make her suffer most of all. Then, Batman and Dumbledore. Harley, he will make suffer, mostly because Ivy will suffer. Joker basically fills that description once given to pirates: Enemies of all humanity.**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	15. Chapter 14: Dumbledore, Death and Dream

**CHAPTER 14:**

 **DUMBLEDORE, DEATH AND DREAM**

Dumbledore was a man on a mission. A mission to retrieve his wayward pawn, and deal with the problems of his parents for once and for all. Moody had told him about his encounter with the Joker, who turned out to be James Potter. And as much as Dumbledore didn't want to admit it, it was a theory that made a perverse amount of sense. Of course, the Joker's features were so distorted from that of James Potter's that it was hardly surprising no recognition had taken place.

Moody had also spent time berating Dumbledore for what he did, to both James and Lily. Dumbledore would have used a Memory Charm on Moody, but the wily old Auror had been ready, and had told Dumbledore coolly that once Moody was done in Gotham, he was also done with the Order of the Phoenix, and taking anyone willing to come with him to actually fight Voldemort. He'd then left.

Insolent old fool! Nobody had the right to question Albus Dumbledore! Especially not a paranoid Auror who looked like Frankenstein's Monster after being made a dragon's meal!

Still, Dumbledore had stumbled across a clue, somewhat by accident, before he had met with Moody. He found a henchman of the Joker's in a rather disreputable establishment, and had used Legilimency on the man to find the hideouts known that the Joker used. At the very least, he would put paid to the Joker, as he was useless now. But not before he gained whatever information he could about Poison Ivy and her known hideouts: it was possible that he knew through Harley Quinn where at least one of them was, as Harley Quinn was known to be Ivy's lover whenever the Joker wasn't around.

As it happened, on the fourth one he was searching, he hit paydirt. It was a derelict confectionary factory, and Dumbledore felt it was an outrage that the Joker had contaminated such a wonderful thing with his presence. But he could hear screams from inside, that of a woman, echoing through. He made his way through the area stealthily, putting Disillusionment Charms on his person, and walking through the factory.

"SCREAM FOR ME, HARLEY!" the Joker was roaring. "SCREAM FOR ME! YOU DO IT FOR THE WEED!"

"But Pudding…you're hurting me! And not in a good way, either!" whimpered Harley. "I mean, I used to like it, but now…"

"Well, you WILL like it! You WILL have a smile on your face! I WILL be the best lay you ever had, or else there's going to be blood on the bed. Well, more than there is now, anyway. I really should have taken those sheets to the dry cleaners'."

 _Disgusting man_ , Dumbledore thought, though the fact that he had aided and abetted in the Joker's rapes when he was still James Potter never crossed his mind. Those had been for the Greater Good after all.

So preoccupied was he with his hypocritical thoughts that he didn't notice that he had stepped on a floor tile that ever-so-slightly sank down. In fact, the first he realised something was wrong was when he felt the sting of something hit his hand. He looked, and saw a dart of some kind sticking out of it. He paled when he realised it was a hypodermic.

His vision began swimming almost instantly, and he collapsed to the floor in an undignified heap. His last thought was rather succinct: _Bugger_ …

* * *

He hadn't managed to do anything. Beyond taunting that grotesque wreck of a man who was, biologically, his father, he had managed to do sod all. And now, Harley was in the Joker's clutches, and Harry got the feeling that he wasn't going to be gentle with her.

Harry knew, intellectually, that Harley was an insane, and dangerously so, criminal. His mother, at least, had her own reasons for her crimes, even before she regained her memories, and while that didn't excuse her, she was at least rational…save for valuing plant life over human life. But Harley? While smart (when she wasn't playing the ditzy blonde), she was also insane, and chaotically so.

And yet, Harley had also shown him a kindness he hadn't expected from the infamous criminal. Not that she acted anything like a mother, despite her sexual relationship with Ivy. She was more like a goofy big sister. And Harry, despite himself, had come to like her, seeing the glimpses of the woman she once was beneath the bimbo that the Joker had shaped her into…his _father_ had shaped her into.

The Joker hadn't even denied that he was James Potter. He seemed to revel in it. He also didn't deny his monstrosity. Even now, his words echoed sneeringly. _Moony, Moony, Moony, you can't rape your own wife_. It was one thing to hear it from his mother…but to hear his father say that…

His mother was currently calling up the various rogues of Gotham, looking for information. Selina, after hearing what had happened, had gone to contact some of her own contacts within the underworld of Gotham. Ivy had told her son to go and get some sleep, and this he did.

His sleep was odd now. He seemed to be dreaming of floating in a vast green sea. He presumed this was the Green. And yet, he found himself washed up on a strange, starlit shore.

He didn't quite realise what had happened, until a pair of people peered down at him. Both had extraordinarily pale skin and black hair. One was a young woman with a cheerful demeanour, an elaborate tattoo under an eye, and an ankh necklace, dressed in a goth style. The other was a rather dour-looking, thin, bordering on emaciated, young man, wearing dark robes over a shirt and jeans. His eyes were almost non-existent, being little more than stars winking in the shadows of his eyes, his black hair a messy mass. There was something in his manner that reminded Harry of the pedantic, officious Percy, if Percy had somehow become deified. Or maybe Snape, if he was more pleasant.

"Wow, he's so cute," the woman said with a smile. "Can we keep him?"

" ** _Sister, I would expect that from our youngest sibling(_** ** _1)_** ," the man said, his voice seeming to have a weight of sorts behind the words. They weren't loud words, just…they were like the man's voice stamped a stamp on the mind. " ** _He washes up from the dreams of the Green, though he is no plant himself._** "

"Dream, you're no fun," the woman pouted, before looking down at Harry again. "Hi, Harry. Didn't expect to meet you again so soon. Thankfully, this time, it's not while I'm on business."

"…Have we met?" Harry asked.

"Oh, a couple of times. I was there when you were born…and sadly, I was there when Voldemort attacked. I took your father's soul, but it was snatched back when the old goat used that Lazarus Pit. And I wanted to take Voldemort's soul…but, well…he has these little inconveniences called Horcruxes."

"Take…their souls?" Harry blinked. "Are you Death?"

"Yep. Nice to meet you, and yes, I know, I'm not what you're expecting. I didn't really go in for the whole skeleton and scythe thing. Don't worry, you're not dead, so I'm not here to take your soul to where it needs to go. You're just in the Dreaming, you washed up here while sleeping in the Green. That bundle of laughs there is my brother, Dream. I'd managed to persuade him to take a day off, have a family outing, a nice walk along a beach with his sister, and then, who should wash up than you. One of those lovely little coincidences that makes eternity worth it."

Harry, getting to his feet, considered his words carefully. Here he was, in the presence of deities. Or, if Raven was to be believed, beings far older. "Ummm, nice to meet you?"

" ** _The pleasure's all yours_** ," Dream said dryly. A faint smile touched at his features, before they became solemn once more. " ** _You are fortunate to be here while we are. There are unpleasant things in the wilder reaches of the Dreaming. You should know, Harry Potter. You have doubtless experienced many nightmares in your life already. They will not attack while I am here. It is rare for a dreamer to be truly awake and aware within the Dreaming itself. You remind me of the Hunter boy, actually._** "

"Who?"

"He means Tim Hunter. You look quite a bit like him. Like you, he's had to deal with fate and all that rubbish," Death said. "He's learned a different kind of magic to you. Maybe you two might meet one day(2). Anyway…I'd ask what's troubling you, but I know what it is. A lot of things are troubling you. I take a bit of an interest in the ones who get away, so to speak, and besides, you've got one of my Hallows with you."

"What?"

"Oh, right. You don't know. Long story short, a while ago, I gave a boon to three wizards who made a bridge to cross a river with. The legend claims I was annoyed by them thwarting me, but actually, I was glad they did it, to prevent people from drowning. Anyway, they wanted a reward. Well, the oldest two did. The youngest one was a bit skittish. He was the one with sense, as he wanted to help people, and he was worried about gifts from me. Anyway, upshot was, the youngest was the only one to get a happy ending with the boon I gave him. Antioch boasted about the wand I gave him, and he got his throat slit in an inn. Cadmus wanted to speak to his fiancée from beyond the Veil, and, well, because he couldn't bring her back as anything more than a shade using the Stone, he hung himself to be with her. Ignotus, however, used the Cloak wisely, and lived long enough to have a good life. It's the Invisibility Cloak you have now(3). Anyway, the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility, are called collectively the Deathly Hallows. The wizarding tale is a bit different, but still…"

"Huh. Umm, do you want it back?"

Death giggled. "No, it's fine. I'm a bit more concerned about the Elder Wand, given that it's in the hands of Dumbledore." Death then sighed morosely. "Albus Dumbledore…he was so promising once, you know. Power doesn't always corrupt so badly, and there are versions of him out there who aren't so…well, evil. There are versions out there in the big wide multiverse where he truly does try to care about others. Sadly, you got saddled with the one who's a power-hungry nutjob, just better at hiding it than Voldemort." She hugged him suddenly. "I'm sorry. You've had a harder life than you should have. And it may get worse. But…I'm rooting for you, Harry. Could you do me a big favour, though?"

"Umm, okay, what's that?" Harry asked.

"Well, normally I wouldn't ask anyone to do my dirty work for me, but in cases like this, my hands are tied," Death said, rather embarrassedly. "The thing is, I know more or less what Voldemort made into Horcruxes, and I know where he has them. It's been a bit of a hobby, trying to track those little buggers down, but I can't take them. The Horcrux ritual prevents me from taking any action myself. And, well, most of the time, when I meet people, they're in no fit shape to help me. Plus, I knew about the Horcrux in you, and, well, how could I ask anyone to kill you to get rid of it? Even the Goblin rituals had a chance of killing you in the process. You were lucky to survive what your mother did to you. But with it gone, well…you have a vested interest in getting rid of them. Though I'd say to get rid of Voldemort's current body first. It took him a decade to even gain enough power to possess Quirrell. That way, once you've dealt with Voldemort, you have the time to deal with Dumbledore and your father, and then you can destroy the Horcruxes at your leisure."

Harry sighed. "Another destiny?"

"Not really. I'm just asking, as a favour. Pretty please, Harry?" Death asked, giving him the most effective psychological attack known to humanity: the puppy-dog eyes look.

Harry sighed. If it meant getting rid of Voldemort for once and for all, he would do it. "How can I say no to a pretty face?"

"Flatterer," Death said with a sly smirk. "I'm a bit out of your age bracket, Harry." She kissed his forehead. "But…you have many who care about you. And there is one who could do with your help, and you with hers. The Daughter of Trigon, Rachel Roth, better known as the Raven. You both have monsters for fathers, even if your father was more of a psychological monster than an actual one. You both know of the perils of magic and darkness. She is still trying to regain her self-confidence, and while the superheroes have done much to help, she needs someone who can be by her side. Maybe you can do it."

" ** _Sister, you are not Destiny_** ," Dream said. " ** _You cannot see everything that is, was, and will be._** "

"Doesn't mean I can't help," Death said. She then looked at Harry solemnly. "I know who the Batman is, the Fidelius doesn't affect those like us. Speak to her through the plants at Wayne Manor. When you leave here, you will have the knowledge of the Horcruxes in your noggin. I don't know where the Joker or Harley are, though, or I'd tell you. I'm not completely omniscient, at least where the still-living are concerned. But Harley's a favourite of our youngest sister, Delirium, and she'd be heartbroken if Harley was murdered. And Harry? I hope that if we ever meet again, it's either after a long and fulfilling life…or it's a social call like this one. If you ever find the Stone, you can even call me up if you want."

"Well…you're nice, I guess," Harry said. "And you were right, you were not what I was expecting. That's a good thing, by the way."

"Of course it is," Death said with a smile, before looking at her brother. "So, do you want to point him in the right direction, brother?"

Dream sighed quietly. " ** _I am not a guide, sister. That is usually Lucian's job when he is available._** " When Death gave him a look, he said, " ** _Very well._** " He waved a hand, and a portal of light appeared on the beach. " ** _Harry Potter…this portal will take you back into the Green in the waking world. You will be, spiritually, close to Wayne Manor, and to the one my sister suggested you counsel._** "

"Thank you," Harry said with a brief bow. "I'm sorry to put you to any trouble."

"It's no trouble for him at all," Death said, shooting Dream a pointed look. "And Harry…good luck. And try to stop your mother from straying too far down the path of darkness again."

Harry nodded. "I'll try. Thanks." And with that, he stepped into the portal, leaving the beach in the Dreaming behind…

 **CHAPTER 14 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Well, I didn't expect this one to be out so soon. I wanted to do one that really showed the beginnings of the Harry/Raven shipping I promised, but the whole thing with Dream and Death of the Endless just took over. I love** ** _The Sandman_** **, and I jumped at the opportunity to include them in this story, and the scene sort of wrote itself. The scene I intended to have with Harry conversing with Raven in the Wayne Manor gardens will be in the next chapter.**

 **And sorry if the bit about Death knowing about the Horcruxes is a bit of an arsepull. I did that before in** ** _In Spite of Obstinate Men_** **, though at least this actually works a bit better.**

 **Review-answering time!** **bissek** **: I didn't know that. Frankly, that doesn't tie into the story, and it won't be mentioned, but thanks for the info anyway.**

 **mizzrazz72** **: I think one thing about Harry is that he wants to be a hero, but he wants to be one on his own terms. So joining the Teen Titans is not a stretch, but he's still yet to make the decision.**

 **Hari Datenshi** **: It's still up in the air as to what Harry will do, but the Joker will not get the better of him, not at the end of the day…**

 **Infernus est in animo** **: Yes, you did. I haven't actually watched** ** _Little Shop of Horrors_** **, but I know of it.**

 **Guest** **: There's a lot of fics where Harry's adopted by Poison Ivy. I can't remember one where she gains Lily's memories, though.**

 **1\. In other words, Delirium of the Endless, and the most child-like. But given how cheerful Death is usually in the series, her line isn't out of character.**

 **2\. Tim Hunter, the protagonist of** ** _The Books of Magic_** **(also by Neil Gaiman, like** ** _The Sandman_** **) actually strongly resembles Harry Potter in looks, as well as his potential for magic. That being said, the two are different characters, and Hunter was created before Harry, with Neil Gaiman denying any plagiarism took place on Rowling's end. But I couldn't resist a cheeky nod here. Hunter has met both Death and Dream.**

 **3\. I wrote this version of events inspired by a Sandman crossover with the Potterverse, namely** ** _Death and the Three Brothers_** **by zeitgeist21st, though there was another,** ** _Death Kindly Stopped_** **by Liz the Fab.**


	16. Chapter 15: Children of Monsters

**CHAPTER 15:**

 **CHILDREN OF MONSTERS**

She had lost control. Not by much, just the merest slip of control, but it was enough to concern her anyway. Then again, considering how deeply the Joker had offended her, she was lucky that her control hadn't slipped any further. The Joker had a very bad habit of getting under people's skins, usually with words, though there was a flensing knife the Joker used on Jason Todd before killing him.

In the gardens of Wayne Manor, under a tree, Rachel sat cross-legged, and meditated. " _Azarath Metrion Zinthos_ ," she murmured her mantra softly to herself. She remembered the lessons Zatanna and J'onn taught her. How to relax herself without relaxing her control over her powers. While her father still had some small sway over her, the most dangerous milestone of her life, her sixteenth birthday, had come and gone not long before, and that knowledge helped her.

Even so, she couldn't afford to relax too much. Loosing the demon within to any degree like she had against the Joker wasn't just dangerous for her personally, but for her comrades. And even if she didn't harm them, it might hurt her relationship with them. Seeing her use demonic powers like that tended to alienate those who witnessed them. A few of her fellow Titans had felt that way, certainly.

At least Bruce had helped intervene, and without anything more than a Batarang thrown near her and a few words. For all of his emulation of a dark creature, Bruce tried to be as good a man as he could be, and he wanted others to do the same. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and Barbara Gordon, the first Batgirl, and now Oracle, were his better success stories. Others were work-in-progresses, save for the late Jason Todd.

It was Tim who had suggested that she go and meditate in the gardens, and while Rachel was not that much of a nature lover, let alone a plant or flower lover, she had to admit, it did help. The scents of the flowers were pleasant enough to help her meditation, to help her resettle herself.

She hadn't realised that Bruce had approached until a twig snapped nearby. Rachel knew that Bruce was stealthy enough to sneak up to or away from Clark Kent, aka the Superman, whose sensory capabilities would normally be able to pick up the heartbeat of a human approaching, so Rachel knew that Bruce was deliberately letting her know of her approach (and only Bruce would be so stealthy: even Tim would be more noisy, and Constantine, well…by comparison to those two, he was the proverbial bull in a china shop). However, he waited until Rachel was ready to speak to him. After a few minutes of relative silence, Rachel eventually unfolded from her lotus sitting position, floating in mid-air, and looked at Bruce, who was dressed in a simple black shirt and trousers. "Yes?"

"I was worried, Rachel. I know how much you detest that part of you, and Tim knows you well enough to know when it has you worried."

"That's not all that worries me," Rachel admitted. "While it is the primary thing, coming a close second is the fact that the Joker is James Potter. And he has magic. It was one thing to hear of it from Constantine and the others, but another entirely to witness it in action. And he hasn't even used his full potential. He was playing with us last night, Bruce. He barely used magic, and he was still playing with us."

"I know. That disturbs me as much as it doubtless does you, Rachel," Bruce said quietly. "I am…infamous for my preparedness within the Justice League. Some call it paranoia, given that I have countermeasures not only to every criminal that we encounter, but even my comrades."

"I'm sure you have something to use against me," Rachel said with a sardonic smirk. All that she got in return was a rueful look to Bruce's eyes. She knew he even had Kryptonite weaponry in case Superman went rogue…and that Kent allowed this. Then again, given the demon heritage in her, she couldn't begrudge Batman for being careful. She only hoped he would use whatever countermeasure he had purely as a last resort. "But what makes the Joker so different?"

"Until now, I have made my preparations regarding the Joker based on the fact that he is still a mundane human, his insanity and endurance notwithstanding. He is hard to prepare for anyway because of his chaotic nature. But when you add magic to the mix…I hear some of the stories Clark has about Mr Mxyzptlk. We're looking at someone with even less qualms than Mxyzptlk, and while this new Joker only has but the smallest fraction of such power, that's enough to give pause for thought. In any case, I'm currently narrowing down which hideout the Joker is hiding in. Oracle's helping. As much as I hate to say it, Ivy has a good effect on Quinn…and if Quinn is killed, then Ivy will kill the Joker."

"Is that a bad thing? Ivy is already a criminal, and the Joker…how many times has he escaped from Arkham? Ivy was right in one regard: throwing the Joker into the Phantom Zone is probably a better idea."

"Maybe. But…I don't kill, and I don't allow murder to happen if I can help it. I may incapacitate my foes, make sure they are incapable of killing, but I do not kill. We need to find Joker before Ivy does. Preferably with Quinn alive and intact. Quinn and Harry are the only human beings Ivy truly loves, though Selina comes close. Rachel…you are not a monster, and not a failure. You are valuable. I appreciate your assistance, your input."

Which was pretty much a compliment, coming from him. After a moment, she asked, "What are your own impressions of Harry Potter?"

Bruce said, "Surprisingly good ones. That response to the Joker…his own father…while I cannot say whether he won't turn out like Ivy, the Joker is another matter. Personally, I agree with your assessment. What little he hides from others is his own pain. He reminds me a little of myself…and of Dick and Jason. Except now he knows his parents are alive…and are criminals. Then again, there are worse criminals than Ivy. Especially now that she has regained her memories. She is different…but that won't mean much with the Joker having kidnapped Quinn." Bruce began moving away. "Be ready to move on a moment's notice, Rachel. I suggest getting as much sleep as you can."

 _Says the man who gets by on minutes of it_ , Rachel snarked in the privacy of her head, though she appreciated the sentiment. Bruce was concerned about her. She sat down in the lotus position again, and resumed her meditating.

After some time, she felt a presence. Not a malevolent one, but not one she was used to. After a moment, she realised she knew where the presence was coming from: the Green. Which probably meant either Ivy or Harry. "Show yourself," she said quietly, opening her eyes.

There was a tangle of ivy on a nearby wall, and the vines and leaves were reshaping themselves until they formed a likeness of Harry's face, who looked a little sheepish. "Sorry about that. I didn't want to interrupt you."

"You did anyway," Rachel said. Noticing his embarrassment at doing so, something it took Garfield a long time to show, she sighed. "It's all right. I am meditating merely as a precaution. You saw what I did last night, unleashing that side of me. You see what happens when I lose a little bit of control."

Harry looked pensive. "It's fine. I'm still getting over the fact that my father is the Joker and my mother is Poison Ivy. Compared to that, you getting a bit scary in dealing with the Joker's pretty tame by comparison."

"You're wrong," Rachel said, once more getting to her feet. "My demonic heritage is a constant danger to me and others, even if I am in more control of it than before. Believe me, I had to be even more strict with my emotional control before. The natural magic you bear, plus the powers of a Plant Elemental, they're benign in comparison. I would envy you, but I cannot help the circumstances of my birth, any more than you can. Trigon makes your parents look like kittens." She chuckled softly. "Actually, one of the biggest helps I had was a pen-pal of mine from Magical Britain. She goes to Hogwarts. Perhaps you may have heard of her, though she would be in the year below yours. Her name is Luna Lovegood."

Harry's face frowned. "I know the name Lovegood, but I don't think I've met her."

"You'd know it if you did. She's…strange. But in a good way. I first met her in Jump City when she and her father were abroad. They're journalists, but Magical Britain's equivalent of tabloids, albeit in an entertaining way. She makes me laugh. In a way, she helped me come to terms with myself, though Zatanna and J'onn did so more."

"J'onn?"

"You'd probably know him as the Martian Manhunter. Harry…why are you here?"

Harry seemed to shrug, at least as much as an effigy of his face picked out in leaves and vines could. "Had a weird dream while I was sleeping. I met a man and a woman, they claimed to be Dream and Death of the Endless. Death said I should talk to you, and, well, Dream pointed me in the right direction."

"You met two of the Endless?" Rachel asked, astonished.

"Yeah. Both with pale skin and black hair? Death's cheerful and has an ankh necklace, while Dream is pretty dour, tall and thin?"

Rachel pursed her lips in thought. That did fit with some descriptions made of the Endless by some people. She remembered Tim Hunter's descriptions, as well as Scott Free, aka 'Mr Miracle', and Constantine describing Dream. J'onn had also met Dream, but had described him differently, as a burning skull(1). "Why did they claim I should talk with you?" she asked.

"I dunno. Death claimed we had things in common. Monsters for fathers, knowing about the dark side of magic…though I guess compared to Trigon, Voldemort pales by comparison. Besides…after last night, I guess we both need someone to talk to. Not that we don't, but…well…"

"I don't generally do talking. I'm not the most sociable of people."

"Sorry to bother you, then."

Rachel sighed. "No. It's fine. To tell the truth, you're better than a few of my team-mates on the Titans, not to mention a couple of the veterans." She thought back to Garfield and Koriand'r, aka Beast Boy and Starfire, although the latter had left the Titans some time ago. "But Death was right. I won't say no to having someone to talk to. But about what?"

"Our parents?"

Rachel shrugged. "I at least had a decent enough upbringing by my mother. My father does eclipse your parents in the quantity of his evil deeds, though. You never knew your parents thanks to Voldemort and Dumbledore. Then again, given how Ivy acted…I guess we had decent enough mothers, relatively. But the truth is, Harry, my problems eclipse yours, what with my demonic father and my very existence being a threat to the world."

"Then why do you help me with my problems? I mean, yours seem so much bigger."

"The Joker needs to be stopped. And when you're a so-called superhero, it does confer responsibilities. Anyway, your story interested me. I'd heard about you before, but I wanted to know more about the real you. In a way, that Boy Who Lived name is almost like the mask of a superhero…but they don't know Harry Potter, do they?"

"They don't. Not many, anyway. Does anyone know Rachel Roth?" On her look, as she knew she hadn't told him her real name, he said, "Death of the Endless told me your name."

Rachel nodded. "Part of the reason few people truly know me is that I have a tendency to shut people out, not let them in. It comes from my powers and heritage. I have to control my emotions, or else my powers tend to go haywire. I also risk giving my _dear father_ ," she spat out those two words, "a way into this world. I once nearly caused the apocalypse that way. I have few friends as a result, partly because many are afraid of my powers, and partly because emotional attachments are a potential risk."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"A lot of people are. Zatanna and J'onn, as I said, helped me gain better control over my powers after the latest near-disaster." Rachel then looked up at Harry's verdant effigy on the vine-covered wall. "What do you think of me?"

As much as a face without any shoulders involved could shrug, Harry's did. "I think you need more hugs. I wish I could give you them. I don't think either of us did, did we?"

Rachel couldn't help but nod in agreement. Again, silence fell between them, before Rachel broke it. "Your mother's on the warpath, isn't she?"

"Yeah. She's calling in favours from everyone she can," Harry said. "I don't know much more, as she told me to get some rest. But the Joker…he's really angered her. I'm more afraid of what will happen to you or Batman and the others if you get in her way than what she'll do to the Joker."

Rachel chuckled softly. "Concern, Harry? We're used to fighting battles against long odds. We can manage. Thank you for talking, though. It has been some time since I had a conversation that was remotely enjoyable. But I would like to be alone for now."

Harry's face nodded. "Okay. I'd like to meet you again, Rachel. See you later." And then, the vines returned to normal, leaving Rachel alone in the garden. She was surprised at how much she missed his presence already.

Even so, the part-demon girl returned to her meditations in the vast garden. Soon, the time for action would be upon them, and she needed to be ready…

 **CHAPTER 15 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Okay, so, at long last, the promised bit of Harry/Raven, albeit on a slow burn. They're not going to go straight to snogging.**

 **Anyway, next chapter, Dumbledore comes face to face with the worst of his mistakes.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Gabriel Herrol** **: The Joker has only reclaimed his magic relatively recently, but keep in mind that he now has two groups of people out to deal with him: Batman and company, and Poison Ivy and her gathering army. And given that the Death Eaters may make an appearance during a battle while trying to deal with Harry and Ivy, that'll just contribute to a major clusterfuck.**

 **Yorae Rosante** **: Just one Joker is enough, thank you. I've no idea what that storyline was, and I care less.**

 **DalkonCledwin** **: Oh shit, I hadn't thought of that. Well, that's going to be something that will be explored in the near future. The Joker gaining mastery of the Elder Wand, huh? Scary shit indeed…**

 **1\. Tim Hunter, Constantine and Scott Free have all met Dream, as has the Martian Manhunter, though the latter saw him as a fiery alien skull or head, and addressed him as L'zoril.**


End file.
